Doni Monardo: We Must Try So That Long Holidays Do Not Add To COVID-19 Cases

Chairman of the Task Force (Task Force) Handling COVID-19, Doni Monardo (Photo: Doc BNPB)

JAKARTA - Chairperson of the Task Force for Handling COVID-19, Doni Monardo, asked all parties to try to prevent additional cases from occurring due to a long holiday at the end of October during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, this has become the concern of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"The President has already explained his concerns over this long holiday without being well anticipated," Doni said in an online conference, Monday, October 19.

This concern, according to him, deserves attention. This is because the long holiday some time ago at the end of July and the third week of August, had made positive cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia increase, especially on September 1-29.

However, due to good cooperation and intervention by the central and local governments, this positive case has decreased.

"So we have to prove this concern. We try to avoid increasing cases," he said.

Moreover, based on the data it currently has, there has been a decrease in COVID-19 cases in a number of areas. In fact, the number of active cases in Indonesia is now below the world average of 17.69 percent compared to the previous month which was in the range of 23.6 percent.

"Then the cure rate on September 20 was at 72.5 percent, then on October 18 it had increased to 78.85 percent. Furthermore, the death rate on September 20, 3.9 percent, now fell to 3.45 percent," he explained.

So from this data, he asked all parties to try to keep together so that there are no additional cases in the middle of the long holiday.

He also advised all parties to adhere to health protocols if they want to travel during holidays. "Holidays are safe and comfortable without crowds. This means that you must strictly comply with health protocols because the previous holidays, a number of tourist locations became crowded," he said.

Previously, in order to prevent the occurrence of additional COVID-19 cases, the Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian had asked the managers of entertainment venues not to hold events, causing crowds to leave with the Prophet Muhammad SAW, 30 October 2020.

"We will tell all regions and forkopimda to identify vacation spots and how much capacity to arrange so that there are no crowds, maybe by reducing capacity, there is no activity," said Tito Karnavian in a press conference at the president's office regarding collective leave in the midst of the pandemic. COVID-19 was reported by Antara, Monday, October 19.

Tito conveyed a warning regarding the impact of the joint leave after attending a limited meeting with the topic "Anticipating the Spread of Covid-19 During the Long Holiday at the End of October 2020" led by President Joko Widodo.

"For Wednesday and Thursday the police will not give permission for crowd activities with music, large groups and others. We will take that step, but again the forkopimda (regional leadership coordination forum) plays a very important role, those who know exactly the point - where is the point, "said Tito.

For people who decide to go to entertainment venues, Tito also asked for restraint so as not to crowd.

"This is for the safety of fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters together with their families. We remember the family cluster, one is affected by all of them, therefore refrain from having a vacation to a place where there will be a lot of crowds, such as Puncak (West Java) for example, or in Bandung area, on the beach, and others, "said Tito.