Why Increase The Capacity Of COVID-19 Isolation Bed If Jakarta Doesn't Have Emergency Brakes?

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The number of COVID-19 cases in Jakarta has been climbing again for the past few days. The government's step to accommodate the current case is to increase the occupancy of isolation beds in a number of places.

The rest will continue the implementation of micro-community activity restrictions (PPKM) by strengthening the implementation of supervision and law enforcement on compliance with health protocols, plus accelerating vaccination targets. Which, this should have been done from the start.

The increase in COVID-19 cases in Jakarta and its surroundings has prompted the Wisma Atlet Kemayoran COVID-19 Emergency Hospital to add 1,400 beds by maximizing the available space.

Now, bed occupancy is 75.05 percent with a total of 7,394 beds. Previously, the bed capacity was almost full, which was 92 percent of the total 5,994 beds.

"Current occupancy is 5,551, so this is large enough for hospital treatment, it occupies 75.05 percent, we have increased the capacity of residential beds from 5,994, now we are preparing an additional 1,400 to 7,394 beds," said the Coordinator RSDC Wisma Athletes Kemayoran, Maj. Gen. TNI Tugas Ratmono, Wednesday, June 16.

However, according to the task, no matter how many additional isolation beds there are, if there is no government policy, especially the DKI Provincial Government in limiting the mobility of residents by applying emergency brakes or applying PSBB again, the bed capacity will be full again.

"We still have 1,843 beds. So if we add 500 per day, we can count how many days we have left. This is a condition where the brakes are really upstream, so the transmission can really be cut off," he said.

In addition to Wisma Atlet Kemayoran, the government has also opened a tower at Wisma Atlet Pademangan with 1,572 beds. Then, a place for isolation of up to 2,550 beds was prepared in the Nagrak Flats, Cilincing, North Jakarta. But, it's still not enough.

"At least this will increase capacity, but this capacity must have limitations. Therefore, it is very important how to break the chain of transmission in the community," said Tugas.

Agreeing, Head of Behavior Change Division of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Sonny Harry B. Harmadi admitted that volunteers or behavior change ambassadors had tried to educate the public. However, emergency brakes are still needed when a spike in cases occurs.

"We are trying to provide services. However, efforts to brake the speed are very important. Because, no matter how good health services are, it is impossible to serve a drastic surge. Efforts to brake upstream are very important," said Sonny.

DKI doesn't want PSBB anymore

DKI Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria explained the reason his party did not want to re-implement PSBB when the COVID-19 case in DKI was climbing again.

Riza said that the extension of the micro PPKM period in Jakarta until June 28 was a directive from President Jokowi. In addition, Jokowi also gave special directions to the ranks of the DKI Regional Leadership Communication Forum (Forkopimda) regarding the handling of cases during the micro PPKM period.

"We have issued the PPKM in the next two weeks, so it is still the same as yesterday. Yesterday the President was summoned and we followed the direction of the President," said Riza.

First, Jokowi asked all ranks in DKI to improve the implementation of handling COVID-19 in the field.

Then, Jokowi gave directions to increase the use of masks for residents in the capital city. The compliance with masks in Jakarta should have reached 98 percent.

Furthermore, Jokowi gave a target for DKI to be able to carry out COVID-19 vaccinations of up to 7.5 million targets in August.

"The strategy is to present how many officers, we will definitely try a day to reach 100 thousand who are vaccinated. Our efforts are not easy, but with all the facilities, ranks, capabilities, God willing, we can achieve this target," explained Riza.