Ignoring Health Protocols, Indonesia Is Asked To Learn From The Surge In COVID-19 Cases In India

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JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Charles Honoris, appealed to Indonesia to learn from the explosion of COVID-19 cases in India which again set a record high by recording more than 200 thousand new cases a day.

He considered that the spike in cases in India should be a serious concern of the Indonesian government. According to him, national vaccination is meaningless without the implementation of strict health protocols.

"From the case in India, we should learn that vaccination is important as an intervention to create herd immunity. However, without the implementation of health protocols, the public cannot be fully protected from the spread of COVID-19", Charles said in his statement, Friday, April 16th.

The PDIP Party politician said that the Indian authorities had injected 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine into its citizens. Even though the vaccination rate is very high, there are still mass gatherings without health protocols that have caused the Coronavirus cases to peak.

"The spike in cases in India, for example, must be a lesson for Indonesia that even in a country with a fast vaccination rate, new cases of COVID-19 can explode when health protocols are ignored", said Charles.

Therefore, the DKI Jakarta legislator asked the government, both central and regional, to be more firm in enforcing regulations related to the implementation of health protocols.

"Just as vaccination cannot be a reason for the community to slacken the health protocols, the enforcement of health protocols regulations should not be relaxed because vaccinations are already running", said Charles.

As reported, India reported a record daily infection of the new COVID-19 virus with 200.739 cases over the past 24 hours.

Based on data released by the local Ministry of Health on Thursday, April 15, this is the first time that daily cases in India have surpassed 200.000 since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in the country.

With this addition, the total burden of COVID-19 cases in India reached 14.1 million. Now, India is also behind the United States (US), which leads the global count with 31.4 million cases.

India also reported an additional 1.038 deaths as of today. This brings the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the country to 173.123.

The spike in COVID-19 cases in India comes at the same time as the Kumbh Mela festival which is centered on the Ganges river. At least, more than 3 million Hindus attend this festival.

In the festival, steps to prevent transmission of the virus cannot be taken. Given the number of participants who swelled.