Luhut Says A Number Of Regions Are Lazy To Implement Testing Because Of Zero Cases Of COVID-19

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Panjaitan (Photo: Irfan Meidianto/VOI)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the government would intensify testing and tracing efforts in Indonesia.

Because, he said, in the last few days there has been a decline in the number of testing in a number of areas. This is because there have been no more additional cases of COVID-19 in the area in recent times.

"The government will continue to strengthen testing and tracing in Indonesia because in the last few days there has been a decline. Maybe in some places there have been zeros, so they are lazy to do testing," Luhut said in a virtual press conference, Monday, December 27.

Therefore, Luhut appealed to areas that experienced a decline in the number of testing to be further increased. Given, the majority of 46 Omicron case findings in Indonesia are asymptomatic people (OTG).

"Testing and tracing will help us identify the potential for the spread of cases quickly and isolate the spread so that it does not spread," said Luhut.

Furthermore, Luhut said that currently there has not been an increase in COVID-19 cases even though the Omicron variant has been detected in Indonesia.

Since the decline in cases due to the second wave caused by the Delta variant in the middle of this year, Luhut said COVID-19 cases were still at a low level.

"It has been 164 days that cases have remained low, since the peak of cases of the Delta variant on July 15 and so far there has been no indication of an increase in cases due to the Omicron wave," he said.

However, Luhut said the government remains cautious and alert. Monitoring of COVID-19 data is carried out strictly up to the district/city level to be able to consider the policy of tightening community activities.

"The tightening of community activities will only be carried out when it exceeds a certain threshold, taking into account not only daily cases, but also cases of hospitalization and death," said Luhut.

To date, the confirmed cases of Omicron in Indonesia have reached 46 cases and almost all of them are foreign travelers from various countries. Meanwhile, the rest are officers at Wisma Atlet.