Today Is The Last PPKM, Will The Government Do An Extension? J

JAKARTA - Implementation of PPKM Level 1 to Level 4 will end today. The government will announce the continuation, whether to extend the PPKM at the same level in each region, or loosen the PPKM level.

A week ago, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menkomarves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the government was evaluating the conditions for handling COVID-19 in each region to determine the follow-up policies of PPKM implemented.

"Evaluation for PPKM in Java-Bali is carried out once a week, while for Outside Java-Bali it will be carried out once every two weeks," said Luhut on Monday, August 9.

Based on the implementation of PPKM from August 10 to 16, 2021, there are 71 out of 128 regencies/cities in the Java-Bali region which are at level 4. In the past week, there was 1 district/city which dropped from level 3 to level 2 and 26 districts /cities that dropped from level 4 to 3.

Then, there are 45 of the 386 regencies/cities outside Java and Bali that are at level 4. In the past week, there were 6 regencies/cities that fell from level 2 to level 1 and 28 regencies/cities that fell from level 4 to level 3.

In implementing this PPKM, Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, said that positive cases of COVID-19 had decreased for three consecutive weeks. Last week, positive cases this week also fell by almost 50 thousand cases from last week.

In addition to the weekly decline in positive cases, active cases at the national level also fell for the second week in a row. Where, this week down 17 percent from the peak on July 25 last.

However, said Wiku, the current decline in cases is not enough to return to the conditions before the spike in cases at the end of last June. This is because daily cases are currently around 4-7 times higher than before the spike in cases.

"Our daily cases range from 5,000 to 7,000 cases, while currently it is still at 20,000 to 40,000," said Wiku.

President Joko Widodo also announced that the bed occupancy ratio (BOR) at the COVID-19 referral hospital is currently continuing to decline. Nationally, BOR is already at 48.14 percent.

"Alhamdulillah, BOR in Jakarta is already in the range of 29.4 percent, in West Java 32 percent, in Central Java 38.3 percent, in East Java 52.3 percent, in Banten 33.4 percent, in the Special Region of Yogyakarta 54.7 percent. percent," said Jokowi.

In general, cases of COVID-19 in Java and Bali have decreased since last week. However, there has been an increase in cases outside Java and Bali.

The five provinces with the highest increase in weekly active cases were outside Java, namely North Sumatra, Central Sulawesi, South Kalimantan, West Sumatra and South Sulawesi.

An epidemiologist from Griffith University Australia, Dicky Budiman, suggested that PPKM outside Java and Bali be extended. Dicky views that PPKM outside Java-Bali needs to be extended to further suppress the spread of COVID-19.

"For outside Java and Bali, this is an important note. The government must strengthen PPKM," said Dicky when contacted by VOI, Monday, August 16.

In addition to the increasing number of cases, said Dicky, the efforts for testing, tracing, and treatment, as well as COVID-19 vaccination outside Java and Bali are not as massive as in Java and Bali. "Outside of Java, the 3T and vaccination issues are a big homework," he said.

Therefore, the government must extend PPKM by strengthening 3T. Regarding the limitations of the PCR and antigen test kits, the local government can take alternative steps by detecting suspected cases through the symptoms they feel.

"The important thing is that there is visitation by means of early risk detection. Health workers can be provided with a simple checklist to find suspected cases, then isolation or quarantine can be carried out immediately. Without testing, there is no problem, the important thing is that there are effective isolation and quarantine interventions and find contact case," explained Dicky.

Meanwhile, Dicky suggested that the PPKM in Java and Bali be relaxed. Because, at this time the increase in cases in Java-Bali began to decline. However, the determination of the PPKM level in Java-Bali must still refer to the indicators for determining the assessment.

"I think, for Java and Bali, the PPKM level can be lowered. For Jakarta, the PPKM can be lowered to level 2. Provinces other than Jakarta in Java and Bali can be lowered to level 3," said Dicky.