Bali Task Force Prepares 700 Beds To Anticipate COVID-19 Spike

ILLUSTRATION/PIXABAY

DENPASAR - The Bali Province COVID-19 Handling Task Force has prepared a centralized isolation place with a capacity of 700 beds to anticipate a spike in COVID-19 cases after the 2021 Christmas and 2022 New Year holidays.

"What has been prepared in this province is specifically to anticipate when there is a spike in cases after Christmas and New Year," said Secretary of the Bali Province COVID-19 Task Force I Made Rentin in Denpasar, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, December 22.

The centralized isolation managed by the Bali Provincial Government with a capacity of 700 beds was prepared using five hotels located in the Denpasar City and Badung Regency areas.

"Currently, the centralized isolation area is managed by the Regency/City Task Force with a capacity of 883 beds and a number of beds have been filled," said Rentin, who is also the Chief Executive of the Bali Province BPBD.

Rentin reminded the community on the Island of the Gods to remain disciplined in health protocols, even though the COVID-19 case has been sloping with the addition of daily cases of less than 10 people.

"The Bali Provincial Satpol PP down to the lower level, and through the Indigenous Peoples Advancement Service to the customary level, has also given directions to tighten public areas that have the potential to cause crowds," he said.

In addition, he said, the involvement of the Indigenous Village Council at various levels, starting from the province, district/city, sub-district, and customary village heads at the customary village level were jointly invited to embrace and supervise their respective territories.

"We invite these figures to jointly appeal to all components, especially the younger generation. It is permissible to carry out activities to welcome the new year, but not to cause unwanted activities such as drinking," he said.

According to Rentin, even though the COVID-19 case has been sloping, anyone has the potential to infect and be transmitted.

Previously, virologist Prof. Dr. drh I Gusti Ngurah Kade Mahardika invited the Balinese people not to be careless with the transmission of COVID-19, especially during Christmas and New Year's 2022 holidays.

He also saw the trend of the development of COVID-19 cases being associated with the position of the sun from the equator. "Whether this is valid or not, I will tell you later in April or May 2022," he said.

However, said the Udayana University academic, if you look at the trend of cases in 2021, the peak of COVID-19 cases occurs when the sun's position is far north of the equator (June-August) and cases begin to decline in September (the position of the sun at the equator).

"This may be related to the nature of the COVID-19 virus which is less resistant to hot weather. So, for December we must be more vigilant because of high humidity," he said.

However, continued Prof. Mahardika, if the COVID-19 vaccination was effective and the "Omicron" variant was mild, in early 2022 there would not be an explosion of COVID-19 cases nor an increase in the number of people who died from COVID-19," he said.

He hopes that if the COVID-19 vaccination in Bali Province has passed the target of achieving community immunity (70 percent of the population) to continue, so that more people are protected.