A Number Of Cities In The World Are Back In Lockdown, Anies Asks Residents Not Homecoming: Don't Let It Happen In Jakarta

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JAKARTA - DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan warned about the potential spike in COVID-19 cases in the capital city because of the public's desire to go home on this year's Eid.

Several capitals in other countries, said Anies, have returned to implementing regional quarantine (lockdown) because the trend of COVID-19 cases in their regions has increased again. Like New Delhi in India, Beijing in China, to Manila in the Philippines.

"Outside Indonesia, we have seen a very significant jump (in the case of COVID-19). We hope that the same incident does not occur in Jakarta", said Anies in Kota Tua, Central Jakarta, Tuesday, April 20.

Because of that, in addition to the ban on Eid homecoming, Anies said that currently, the government is discussing controlling population movements across regions. Later, the central government will issue an integrated regulation.

"We are still waiting for directions from the central government. After the details emerge, we will prepare support in Jakarta", said Anies.

Anies again emphasized that people do not travel outside the city, especially homecoming during Eid. It is feared that this action will actually make the coronavirus more widespread.

"This year is a test year and we are facing an epidemic. Let us be disciplined and disciplined to reduce movement, including during this Eid season", he explained.

Previously, the Head of the DKI Jakarta Health Service Widyastuti admitted that the trend of COVID-19 cases in Jakarta in March had decreased. However, over the past two weeks, the number of new cases has increased again.

"We have dropped drastically, but in the last two weeks, our daily cases have started to increase. Our daily has started to increase by 200 or more than 200, moving on", said Widyastuti.

Several factors cause daily cases in the capital to return to a high level. Widyastuti said that the number of COVID-19 tests using the PCR method was still high, which was above 68 thousand in one week.

Then, the test through our rapid antigen can reach 3 thousand per day. If the rapid antigen test is found to be positive, then the person concerned must repeat the PCR test.

With so many residents taking the test using rapid antigen and having negative results, Widyastuti is worried that this will make these residents underestimate the application of health protocols.

"We are worried that when our citizens are tested negative for rapid antigen, they will continue to feel calm. That is what we are a little worried about. We order not to be complacent with the rapid antigen examination. Don't be complacent once the result is negative, continue to feel healthy", she concluded.