COVID-19 Task Force: If Conditions Are Not Controlled, Then PPKM Can Be Extended

ILLUSTRATION PHOTO / ANTARA DOC / Protocol road conditions during emergency PPKM Saturday, July 3

JAKARTA - Spokesman for the COVID-19 Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, said the government continues to see the effects of implementing Emergency Restrictions on Community Activities (PPKM) in the field. If the COVID-19 case has not been controlled, the government will extend the Emergency PPKM.

"If conditions are not sufficiently controlled, then the extension of policies or the implementation of other policies is not impossible for the safety and health of the public at large", Wiku said in a Youtube video broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat, Tuesday, July 13.

Wiku said that Emergency PPKM continues to be evaluated based on the development of existing epidemiological data. This includes expanding the scope of the implementation of Emergency PPKM in 15 regencies/cities outside Java and Bali by Minister of Home Affairs Number 20 of 2021.

"It is hoped that this policy can significantly improve national COVID-19 cases", said Wiku.

Meanwhile, related to increasing the number of testing, tracing, and vaccination in Emergency PPKM, the central government has instructed each local government to actively establish PPKM posts as the control upstream.

"This post, which is formed from various elements of society, helps ensure that the government's targets and programs are carried out upstream", he said.

The Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani, raised the discourse on the extension of the Emergency PPKM. Sri Mulyani said that Emergency PPKM must be effective. If the spread of COVID-19 is still high, the government can extend the Emergency PPKM for up to 6 weeks.

"Emergency PPKM for 4-6 weeks is carried out to contain the spread of COVID-19 cases. Community mobility is expected to decrease significantly", Sri Mulyani said in a joint working meeting with the House of Representatives' Budget Agency, Monday, July 12.