Jokowi: 70 Percent Of Positive Cases Of COVID-19 On The Island Of Java

President Joko Widodo (Photo: Twitter @jokowi)

JAKARTA - In a closed meeting with his staff, President Joko Widodo stated that nearly 70 percent of positive cases of COVID-19 occurred in Java. Although he did not mention which region contributed the most figures, Jokowi ordered that the control of the spread of this virus in Java be carried out efficiently.

"The Task Force's data for 70 percent of positive cases are in Java Island. Likewise, the death rate, 82 percent are in Java," Jokowi said when opening a limited meeting regarding the PSBB evaluation broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube account, Tuesday, May 12.

The Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19, said Jokowi, must take advantage of the two weeks leading up to this Eid to control the spread of COVID-19 on this densely populated island.

Meanwhile regarding the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) policy, Jokowi asked for an evaluation of its implementation in 4 provinces and 72 districts / cities in Indonesia.

This evaluation, said Jokowi, was carried out by looking at positive case data for Covid-19, either before or after the implementation of the PSBB.

Given, after this policy was implemented there were regions where the number of cases had decreased but not drastically, some had decreased but fluctuated, and there were even regions where the number of cases had not changed during the PSBB period.

Only Three Provinces Implemented the PSBB

President Jokowi said, of the 10 provinces with the most cases, only three had implemented the PSBB, namely DKI Jakarta Province, West Java Province and West Sumatra Province. The rest, according to him, did not implement the PSBB but only carried out strict health protocols.

So that as an evaluation, he asked for a comparison between areas that had implemented the PSBB and regions that had not implemented it.

"It must be compared, the PSBB and non-PSBB, because there are innovations in the field, the limitation policy in the community is adjusted to the context of each region," he said.

He also reminded that this PSBB must be agglomerated or mutually integrated, such as in the Jabodetabek area. All regions, he said, must be interrelated so that social arrangements can be implemented properly in reducing the spread of COVID-19.

Finally, Jokowi asked that the PSBB easing policy be carried out carefully and not in a hurry. All decisions, he said, must be based on data and facts in each region. "Be careful about the PSBB easing," he concluded.