President Jokowi Admits Tracing And Testing For COVID-19 In Indonesia Is Far From Standard

President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo (Photo: Setkab)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo acknowledged that efforts to trace cases (tracing) and check cases (testing) COVID-19 have not met standards and have not been evenly distributed in all provinces.

Jokowi said there were very few tracer officers in Indonesia. From the standard of 50 thousand people, Indonesia only has 5 thousand tracers.

"Our tracing in the field is not yet good. This is what we want to continue to pursue", Jokowi said in the Presidential Secretariat Youtube broadcast, Saturday, February 20.

Jokowi continued, the number of close contacts who were traced from positive confirmed cases was also still small. In fact, at least 15 to 30 close contacts were traced.

In fact, Jokowi even found a flaw in the strategy of tracking cases by his subordinates. "Sometimes the tracing just gets stuck on the road. Well, that doesn't fit right. Things like this are untrue things that must be straightened out", said Jokowi.

Meanwhile, for testing, the actual number of specimens examined on a national scale has exceeded the WHO standard. However, it turns out that the testing figures are not evenly distributed in each province.

Some provinces such as DKI Jakarta have tested 12 times the WHO standard. Several provinces that have other large cities also contributed a lot of testing. However, the testing figures for other provinces are still below standard.

"It's like DKI Jakarta. This city has 12 times the WHO standard. Many others are standardized, but not many", said Jokowo.

"Don't just go to DKI alone. It should be in all provinces that the WHO standard is. Found it. That's what we are consistently doing. The important thing is right on target. This is what we are testing not like that", he continued.

Therefore, the government is working on a solution to multiplying tracers from the TNI-Police ranks, such as Babinsa and Bhabinkamtibmas (Public order officer). They will trace cases during the micro PPKM period.

For equal distribution of testing, Jokowi asked regions that have not reached WHO standards to spend local budgets to promote COVID-19 checks.