Government Prepares Three Conditions Toward The New Normal

Illustrated (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - Deputy for Human Development, Community and Culture of the Ministry of National Development Planning Agency, Subandi Sardjoko, said that the government is meeting three requirements to undergo a new normal in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. This requirement is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

First, there are epidemiological criteria. An absolute requirement to be able to impose new normalities and an epidemic (COVID-19) can be controlled if the effective reproductive rate (Rt) is less than 1 for 2 weeks.

"The initial infectivity (COVID-19, red) starts from 1.9 to 5.1. So, 1 person can infect 2 to 5 people. This is very high, and this must be reduced (until Rt is 1 , red) with intervention, "said Subandi in a discussion at Graha BNPB, East Jakarta, Friday, May 29.

Based on data from Bappenas, there are at least 2 provinces that meet the requirements for Rt less than number 1, namely DKI Jakarta with Rt number 0.98783 and West Java with RT 0.9820. Another province with an effective reproductive rate close to 1 is Central Java with an Rt 1.0126.

The second requirement is the health system. The indicators that can be seen for fulfilling these requirements are the number of new cases requiring hospitalization that is less than the maximum capacity of hospital and emergency beds for COVID-19 treatment.

"WHO also requires that the number of beds prepared specifically for handling COVID-19 must be 20 percent more than new cases. This is the second criterion," he said.

The third requirement is adequate surveillance. Surveillance is the process of systemic interpretation of data and dissemination of information to units that need to be able to take action.

Indicators for surveillance of COVID-19 handling are sufficient laboratory test capacity and a clear testing strategy. Bappenas follows Brazil, which targets 3,500 COVID-19 tests per 1 million population.

"Looking at the population, our tests that we need are at least 940,000 tests and we are currently only 290,000 as of yesterday, not a third yet," said Subandi.

Furthermore, to monitor the achievement of these three new normality requirements, Bappenas has prepared data which is coordinated by the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 by the United Against COVID-19 application system (BLC).

"The Minister of Bappenas yesterday gathered all heads of district, city and provincial Bappeda, to ask for support in preparing real time data, daily data submitted to BLC," he concluded.