Beware Of The Third Wave Of COVID-19, This Is A Suggestion For The Makassar City Government

Illustration (Photo: Antara)

MAKASSAR - The Makassar City Government, South Sulawesi, was asked to increase vigilance against the threat of the third wave of COVID-19 transmission, including the new variant of the virus.

"A third wave of threats could occur, even a new variant of COVID-19 could spread if the government is not careful to control the easing of community activities," said an epidemiologist from Hasanuddin University, Ridwan Amiruddin in Makassar, as reported by Antara, Tuesday, November 2.

If you look at the condition of the Implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) in Makassar City, which is currently level 2 from level 4, he said, easing community activities still needs strict supervision, especially on the implementation of health protocols.

This Unhas academic also highlighted that community activities have so far been loosely monitored. If there is no supervision on the implementation of the prokes, it is possible for the virus to spread again, especially when there is an issue of a new virus variant that is more virulent than Delta.

If the easing was done without the supervision of the Makassar City Government through the COVID-19 Task Force, he said, it could form a new cluster of virus transmission.

He said that health care compliance and vaccination acceleration were a serious concern for all parties.

"Although new cases are getting smaller and Makassar can drop to level 1, as well as incessant vaccinations, don't ignore health protocols," he said.

A government observer from Unhas, Andi Lukman Irwan, said that when he saw the easing of community activities, both in malls, cafes, restaurants, and night entertainment venues, and in crowded places, strict control was needed regarding the implementation of the health program.

In addition, he said, the city government must give strict action and severe sanctions for business actors who violate the rules while running their business, including those related to crowds and business operating hours.

"The mayor must be firm and don't be selective, otherwise it will become a bad 'brand' (brand) in enforcing the rules he made himself. Provide firm witnesses for those who violate. The ranks must be communicated to the lower levels, do not let there be negotiations behind the perpetrators attempt to violate it," he said.

Makassar Mayor Moh Ramdhan Pomanto said that the COVID-19 case cannot be underestimated, because sometimes it goes up and sometimes it goes down.

For this reason, his party has prepared anticipatory steps in the event of a third wave of the virus attack.

"Of course we have anticipated everything. The entire task force team and OPD (Regional Apparatus Organization) are still emphasized to help deal with the pandemic, including accelerating vaccination and most importantly complying with prokes. Currently our vaccination achievement is above 70 percent," he said.

Based on task force data on the situation and developments in controlling and handling COVID-19 in 24 districts and cities in South Sulawesi, as of October 31, 2021, the recovery rate reached 107,146,000 people or 97.69 percent. The remaining active confirmed cases are 301 patients, zero deaths, while the accumulated deaths are 2,232 people.