COVID Cases Continue To Soar, Batam City Government Restricts Official Travel Of Civil Servants

The Mayor of Batam, Riau Islands Province, Muhammad Rudi when met on the island of Belakang Padang (ANTARA)

BATAM - The Batam City Government, Riau Islands Province has limited official travel activities outside the city for local civil servants (PNS) to anticipate the potential for COVID-19 transmission. In the last two weeks, cases have soared.

"PNS out of town have begun to be reduced," said Batam Mayor Muhammad Rudi in Batam, Antara, Wednesday, February 9.

He asked residents to stay inside the city. Even if you want to take a break from activities, then do it in the local area. However, civil servants are still working in the office as usual because work from home has not been enforced.

"There hasn't been an order from the center regarding working from home (WFH). Because civil servants must come from the center. Because there isn't one yet, I haven't implemented it yet," he said.

On that occasion, the Mayor stated that he would not enforce restrictions on local community activities. "We'll just see the situation first, let this run, because if it is dismissed again, it's a pity," he said.

Even so, he said he would continue to monitor developments in the community. If a cluster of COVID-19 transmission occurs in a community activity location, the government will take a policy to close the location.

"If something goes wrong, we check the field, we will close it, but partially. Not completely," he said.

He is optimistic that although cases of COVID-19 transmission have jumped sharply to 277 cases in the last nine days, the government can still handle it.

"Today, those who are infected are generally hospitalized. They are quarantined, five days of recovery, six days of recovery. Even those who are positive for COVID-19 are in good health, maybe just coughing a little," he said.

The mayor said that according to experts the infection of the Omicron variant was relatively short and residents could recover quickly. However, residents with congenital diseases are more susceptible to the virus.

According to President Joko Widodo's direction, he said, there are two ways to prevent the virus, namely vaccination and implementing health protocols properly. "Health protocols are elaborated again, namely using masks, masks, masks. That's what he (President) conveyed," he said.

Meanwhile, based on the records of the COVID-19 Task Force, 72 Batam residents were confirmed positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total active cases to 269 people, said Muhammad Rudi.