Cleaning Up COVID, National Police Chief Sigit Takes Strict Action On Prokes Violators In The Red Zone

National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo (Polri Public Relations DOK)

JAKARTA - The National Police Chief, General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, has confirmed that he will give strict sanctions to those who violate the health protocols (prokes) in provinces that are included in the red zone. This sanction is given as a deterrent effect and an effort to suppress the spread of COVID-19.

This firm sanction follows the agreement on a policy of reducing community activities by 75 percent.

"Then, with regard to law enforcement or law enforcement in areas that have determined the existence of this restriction, we will strengthen it," Sigit said to reporters, Monday, June 21.

"Areas that exceed our operating hours will be closed, including of course those who violate, we will apply sanctions in accordance with the agreement that has been implemented," he continued.

Then, Sigit also said that he would continue to coordinate with the Regional Government (Pemda) to maximize the policies that have been made. Thus, positive cases in areas that enter the red zone will decrease.

"We hope that this can really be implemented and our appeal for areas that are red zones also needs to be socialized," he said.

Previously, it was reported that the recent increase in active cases of COVID-19 put Indonesia in a bad state. Corona cases in the country have experienced a drastic increase, the highest since the end of January 2021.

The COVID-19 Task Force noted that as of June 19, Indonesia contributed 22,350 active cases of COVID-19 in the last six days. The Task Force regrets that active cases have increased dramatically after declining in February 2021.

"Starting on June 18, Indonesia's active cases have been above the world average, so now we are at 6.87 percent, the world is only 6.5 percent. While our recovery rate is at 90.38 percent while the world is 91, 33 percent," said the Head of Data and Information Technology of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Dewi Nur Aisyah at the Coordination Meeting of the COVID-19 Task Force, Sunday, June 20.

"So if we look at the last 16 days, there has been a continuous increase from June 3 to June 19 with an increase of 41,300 active cases or an increase of 43.7 percent," he continued.

Dewi explained, active cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia have now reached 135 thousand from the original figure of 94 thousand. Therefore, he asked that this matter must be a common concern to re-look at the strategy for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.

"From 94 thousand, currently our active cases have reached 135 thousand and this is a condition that we must both understand, this is a red light," he explained.

From the data compiled by the COVID-19 Task Force, Dewi said there were only 11 provinces that recorded a decrease in active cases of Corona. Meanwhile, 23 other provinces recorded an increase in active cases of COVID-19.

During the past month, starting from May 31, 2021, there were 7 provinces that recorded the highest spike in active COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, including DKI Jakarta.