Whatever The Strategy For Handling The COVID-19 Pandemic, Jokowi Is Reminded To Strengthen 3T, Especially Tracing

President Joko Widodo (Photo: Twitter @jokowi)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that policies for handling the COVID-19 pandemic often change due to data developments. Even so, observers remind that whatever strategy is made, it must prioritize strengthening tracing, testing, and testing or 3T.

Through a video description posted on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube, President Jokowi explained the reasons behind the frequent changes in the rules for restricting public activities to prevent the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Policy changes, he said, often occur due to the development of the spread of this virus in the country.

"We cannot make the same policy (restrictions, ed) in a long duration. We must determine the degree of community mobility according to the latest data so that our choices are right, both for health and the economy," said Jokowi, Monday, August 2.

Although the rules have changed, Jokowi said the current policy for handling COVID-19 rests on three main pillars. The first is the acceleration of vaccination, especially in areas that are centers of mobility and economic activity.

The two implementations of health protocols are wearing masks, maintaining distance, and washing hands. Finally, is to carry out tracing, testing, and treatment or 3T.

"This includes maintaining BOR (bed occupancy rate), adding centralized isolation facilities and ensuring the availability of medicines and oxygen supply," he said.

In line with Jokowi, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan also agreed that government policies in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic often change. However, this strategy is not only done by Indonesia but other countries.

So, he reminded anyone, including the political elite, not to comment without knowing the problems that exist in dealing with this pandemic.

"Now America has increased its cases and they have also begun to change their strategy again," said Luhut.

In response to this, an epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University, Dicky Budiman, said there was nothing wrong if the strategy for handling COVID-19 in the country continued to change. This includes restrictions on community activities to prevent the transmission from becoming more massive.

"In the context of modification, like the strategy requires restrictions, easing is necessary," he said when contacted by VOI.

However, changes to core strategies such as 3T, especially tracing to look for COVID-19 cases, must not slow down and must be further strengthened.

"There is no difference in the core strategy, 3T, health protocols, and vaccinations. Those three, triad," said Dicky.

He reminded that the government must tighten tracing by trying to reach 1 million tests per day. There is no need to test through polymerase chain reaction (PCR), said Dicky, Indonesia should be able to do a rapid test or antigen-based swab test.

Moreover, the test is a step to reduce the positivity rate in the country. Later, after 1 million tests per day are achieved and the positivity rate can be reduced to at least 3 percent, then testing is directed to areas that have the potential for new clusters to occur or have not been completed.

"So it's still 3T, 5M, the vaccine is there. (That's the core strategy, ed) until we get out of the pandemic," he concluded.