Jogja Lockdown Begins To Be Voiced, DKI Waits For Central Decision To Pull The COVID-19 Emergency Brake

Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria (DOK VOI/Rizky Aditya)

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government is waiting for a decision from the central government to take an "emergency brake" policy or a "lockdown" policy regarding the significantly increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Jakarta.

"We will study it later, waiting for the central decision," said Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria at the Jakarta City Hall, quoted by Antara, Friday, June 18 evening.

However, Riza emphasized that the decision to withdraw the emergency brake as it was implemented in Jakarta around February 2021 was not hampered by the central government.

"No, it's not like that," said Riza, without explaining further.

The Head of the DKI Jakarta Health Office, Widyastuti, said the same thing. The emergency brake policy is under the authority of the central government, even though the current COVID-19 condition is similar to February when the daily number of cases was high, even reaching 4,213 cases.

"The policy is at the central level. Because (PPKM Mikro) is from the center," said Widyastuti when met at Monas, Friday.

Based on data from the DKI Jakarta Health Office, the number of active cases in Jakarta increased by 2,173 cases, bringing the number of active cases to 24,511 (people who are still being treated/isolated). Meanwhile, the total number of confirmed cases in Jakarta as of Friday was 463,552 cases.

Data on the increase in positive cases of COVID-19 reported this Friday amounted to 4,737 cases, which is comparable to the addition of cases in February 7 February 2021, but this time it is higher because last February the addition recorded was 4,213 cases.

Of the total number of positive cases, a total of 431,264 people were declared cured with a cure rate of 93.0 percent, and a total of 7,777 people died with a death rate of 1.7 percent.

The "positivity rate" or the percentage of positive cases in the last week in Jakarta was 21.8 percent, while the percentage of positive cases in total was 11.1 percent. This number is still far below the standard for the percentage of positive cases by WHO, which requires no more than five percent for one region.

Jogga Prepares for Lockdown

Meanwhile, the Governor of the Special Region of Yogyakarta Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X is considering implementing a total "lockdown" to suppress the high number of COVID-19 cases in his region.

"We've already talked about 'controlling' in RT/RW, if it fails, what else can we do. We can't necessarily find a way out, the only way is 'totally lock down'," said Sri Sultan at the Kepatihan Office, Yogyakarta, quoted by Antara, Friday, June 18th.

According to the Sultan, through the Micro PPKM policy which was again extended until June 28, 2021, the Yogyakarta Regional Government has even arranged in detail the technical tightening of community activities down to the RT/RW level.

Through this policy, the implementation of community activities not only requires approval from the kelurahan, but also must be accompanied by the approval of the sub-district.

"This PPKM has already talked about dealing with RT/RW, padukuhan, if that fails, the mobility is like this during the 'weekend', so what else do you want, yes, 'lockdown'," said the King of the Yogyakarta Palace.

Previously, the Governor of the Special Region of Yogyakarta Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X considered implementing a total "lockdown" to suppress the high number of COVID-19 cases in his region.

"We've already talked about 'controlling' in RT/RW, if it fails, what else can we do. We can't necessarily find a way out, the only way is 'totally lock down'," said Sri Sultan at the Kepatihan Office, Yogyakarta, quoted by Antara, Friday, June 18th.

According to the Sultan, through the Micro PPKM policy which was again extended until June 28, 2021, the Yogyakarta Regional Government has even arranged in detail the technical tightening of community activities down to the RT/RW level.

Through this policy, the implementation of community activities not only requires approval from the kelurahan, but also must be accompanied by the approval of the sub-district.

"This PPKM has already talked about dealing with RT/RW, padukuhan, if that fails, the mobility is like this during the 'weekend', so what else do you want, yes, 'lockdown'," said the King of the Yogyakarta Palace.