Mahfud MD Asks Indonesian Border Post Officers To Tighten The COVID-19 Protocol

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD reminded Indonesian National Border Post (PLBN) officers with other countries to tighten the implementation of health protocols. This tightening, he said, must be done in order to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.

"All frontline service officers and passers-by must comply with 3M. Wear masks, wash hands, maintain distance and have a clean lifestyle," said Mahfud when opening a webinar entitled Managing State Borders and Border Areas Toward Advanced Indonesia, Thursday, September 17.

In dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court said there were two things that could be done, namely preventing and treating.

Treatment efforts, continued Mahfud, have now been carried out on affected communities. As for prevention, he said, the government is currently looking for a COVID-19 vaccine.

However, while the search for a vaccine is still being carried out, there is a natural vaccine that has actually been applied since the beginning, namely using a mask.

"So our existing vaccines use masks. If we are dealing with one person wearing a mask, the other wearing a mask, it will not infect each other. If we do not wear masks, we can infect other people or be infected by other people," he said. .

Mahfud invited all parties to adhere to health protocols such as maintaining distance and washing hands, and the most important thing is to use a mask.

"Therefore, once again wear a mask, wash your hands with soap, and keep your distance," he said.

Previously, the number of COVID-19 patients was still increasing. From data released by the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) as of Wednesday, September 16, from 39,774 specimens examined, the result was 3,963 new positive cases of COVID-19.

The number of new cases today reached a new record. This figure follows the high number of specimens examined.

"The total accumulation of positive cases since COVID-19 was discovered in Indonesia has reached 228,993 people," the Ministry of Health was quoted as saying, Wednesday, September 16.

As for cases recovered, yesterday increased by 3,036, so that a total of 164,101 people recovered. Then, 135 confirmed positive cases died and a total of 9,100 people.