Active Cases Increase, Airlangga Hartarto Reveals Government Steps

Airlangga Hartarto. (special photo)

JAKARTA - The implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) in the Java-Bali and Outside Java-Bali regions, according to Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto, is being evaluated by the Government. Especially with the increase in active cases in several areas that occurred this week.

Active Cases as of 09 January 2022 were 6,108 cases or 0.14% of the total cases, an increase from 4,530 cases last week. The proportion of Active Cases from Outside Java-Bali was 36.87% (2,252 cases out of 6,108 cases nationwide). Meanwhile, Daily Confirmation Cases as of January 9, 2022, were 529 cases and an average of 7 days (7DMA) of 432 cases, an increase compared to 7DMA as of January 3, 2022, of 222 cases.

“The national Covid-19 Effective Case Reproductive Rate (Rt) slightly increased from the previous week to 0.99, but is still below 1 (controlled transmission rate). The Rt figure for each island is still the same, except for Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara, which have slightly increased," said Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto, in a press statement after the PPKM Evaluation Meeting, at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Monday 10 January.

Vaccination Implementation Update

Nationally, the achievement of Dose-1 Vaccination is 81.7%, with a total of 256 districts/cities that have reached more than 70% for General Dose-1 coverage and 60% for Elderly Dose-1 coverage. Meanwhile, the average rate of vaccination in the past week was 766,830 doses/day. Complete Primary Dose Vaccination is targeted for completion in the second quarter – 2022, with a daily vaccination target of 1.2 million/day. Regarding the implementation of the Advanced Dose Vaccination (Booster), it is planned to start on January 12, 2022.

Vaccination. (Illustration Antara)

Coordinating Minister Airlangga explained, “Booster vaccines that have received EUA from BPOM are Sinovac/CoronaVac, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Zifivax vaccines. Based on the results of the study, the booster will be given to the target age of 18 years and over."

Coordinating Minister Airlangga also added that for the Red and White Vaccine, there are already several that have entered the trial stage, such as the Unair-Biotis vaccine, as well as the BUMN-Baylor vaccine. Then, regarding the development of the Nusantara Vaccine, of course, it will continue to be encouraged, and this is applied in hospitals, but the implementation is somewhat different because it is based on services in the form of immunotherapy to increase immunity.

Separation of Assessment Levels for PPLN Entrance Areas

Coordinating Minister Airlangga said that the additional active cases that occurred recently were mostly from Overseas Travelers (PPLN) or imported cases. As many as 5%-10% of PPLNs have been confirmed positive since the end of December 2021, around 70% of new cases are from Java-Bali, and now there are still around 29% of PPLN quarantined at hotels.

The addition of cases from PPLN is very significant in the entrance area of PPLN, including in DKI Jakarta Province and Riau Islands, so that this affects the PPKM level assessment in the Province/District/City that becomes the Entry Point. Some areas that become entry points include airports at Soekarno Hatta, Juanda, and Sam Ratulangi airports. As for the sea ports in Batam, Tanjung Pinang and Nunukan, as well as for the National Border Post (PLBN) in Aruk, Entikong and Motaain NTT.

"There will be data separation between imported cases and cases of domestic transmission (local transmission), as the basis for determining the PPKM level. There are special treatments, for example at airport and seaport entrances. PPLN case records will be separated by increasing local/regional cases. So, for example, what happened at Soetta Airport and RSPI Sulianto Saroso (for PPLN), in particular, will be different from the increase in cases in Jakarta in general," explained Coordinating Minister Airlangga.

Furthermore, the PPLN Monitoring System will also be integrated, starting from the initial arrival information from Immigration (Kemenkumham), Quarantine (POLRI Precision Quarantine Monitoring Application), until completion or exit from the quarantine place.

Mandalika 2022 MotoGP Preparation

The MotoGP 2022 Series-1 will start on March 4, 2022, in Qatar, and will be continued by the MotoGP Series-2 on March 18-20, 2022 at the Mandalika Circuit, Lombok NTB. In addition, there will also be a Pre-Season Test on 11-13 February 2022 at the Mandalika Circuit. The targeted tickets are sold, according to the existing capacity per day as many as 63,534 pax. Online sales have been open since January 6 and offline will open on January 11, 2022.

To support the implementation of the 2022 MotoGP, it is necessary to accelerate to achieve the Dose-2 vaccination target of 70% in all regions in Lombok. "Acceleration of vaccination is carried out in regencies/cities in NTB that have not met the minimum target for MotoGP implementation requirements. Especially for Dose-2 Vaccination, currently, there are still regencies that have not reached 70%," said Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto.

Preparation for the Implementation of the Follow-Up Agenda for the G20 Meeting

The First G20 Sherpa Meeting in Jakarta (1st G20 Sherpa Meeting) was held on 6 – 8 December 2021 and was attended by 39 Countries/International Organizations (N/OI), with 22 N/OI of whom were physically present, and 14 Another N/OI follows virtually, and 3 N/OI follows hybrid. The number of Foreign Delegates includes 57 Delegates who are physically present and 38 Delegates who are present virtually. This was followed by the First G20 FCBD Meeting in Bali (1st G20 FCBD Meeting) which was held on 8-10 December 2021 and was also attended by Delegations from 39 N/OI. The implementation of the two events that started the entire series of G20 events went well and smoothly, by implementing a bubble system and strict health protocols, and the result is that so far there have been no cases of Covid-19 transmission, during and after the implementation of the two events.

Some of the scheduled meetings in January 2022 will be held in a hybrid manner, and still by implementing a bubble system, including: Civil-20 Meeting (4th week of January), Youth-20 (2nd week of January), 2nd CEO Forum Empower (27 January 2022), and SAI-20 Technical Meeting (27 January 2022), as well as the Joint Event EWG-C20-W20-U20 G20 Disability Activists in the 3rd week of January 2022. As for the meetings in the Finance Track, all of them will be carried out virtually, such as 1st FWG (13-14 January), 1st IWG (20-21 January), and 1st IFAWG (27-28 January).

"The government will prepare separate arrangements in the form of a Circular from the Head of the Covid-19 Handling Task Force to regulate various G20 activities and events. So this is expected to be carried out according to health protocols. For the Sherpa Track and Finance Track Meetings last December, all Delegates and Participants expressed their satisfaction and gave high appreciation, related to the bubble system implemented by Indonesia," concluded Airlangga Hartarto.