Monday 9 August, Last Day Of PPKM Level 4: Extended Or Not?

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo announced the extension of the Implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) level 4 for the period 3-9 August 2021. This means that today, Monday, August 9 is the last day of PPKM level 4.

PKM Levels 4.3, and 2 are the second extension. Initially, the government implemented Emergency PPKM on July 3-20 in Java-Bali, and July 12-20 outside Java-Bali.

Then it was extended with a new term of PPKM Level 4 on July 20-25, then extended for the period July 26-August-2, and extended again for the period August 3-9, 2021.

A number of people consider the decision to extend the PPKM to be right, even though active cases are experiencing a downward trend.

Based on data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, which was summarized by Antara for a week, active cases on Monday, August 2 were recorded at 523,164 cases.

On Tuesday, August 3, active cases were recorded at 524,142 cases, the next day, Wednesday, August 4, active cases decreased to 524,011 cases, again decreasing to 518,310 cases on Thursday, August 5.

On Friday, August 6, active cases again decreased to 507,129 cases, then as many as 497,824 cases on Saturday, August 7, and on Sunday, August 8 it fell to 474,233 cases.

The Head of the Expert Team for the Task Force for Handling COVID-19 Prof Wiku Adisasmito said that the decline in the number of active cases showed that the patient's recovery was increasing more than the new positive cases.

"Of course, this would not be possible without the sacrifices of the health workers who serve COVID-19 patients every day and ensure that the best services are provided to all patients," he said.

Wiku also appreciated the good cooperation between all elements of the regional government in coordinating the early handling of COVID-19 through the supervision of self-isolated patients as well as supervision and strict action against health protocol violators.

Wiku advised that the decrease in active cases must be maintained.

"So it needs a collective effort from all regions in dealing with COVID-19 patients in their area to recover quickly and keep in mind that death can also reduce active cases. However, that is not what we want to achieve, the reduction in active cases must be achieved because of high recovery," he said. .

According to Wiku, the government's policy in handling the COVID-19 pandemic rests on three main pillars, namely the 3M health protocol (wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining distance), 3T efforts (testing, tracing and treatment) and vaccination.

Then, the number of active cases, the percentage of occupied isolation beds or the bed occupancy rate (BOR) in a number of areas also experienced a downward trend.

"I really appreciate this achievement because it means that the local government has suppressed the heavy burden of health workers who have served in hospitals for the past few weeks," said Wiku.

He said the decrease in BOR was evident in the situation at Wisma Atlet Jakarta, where the current percentage of occupancy is 31.34 percent.

"If you look at the developments at the provincial level, the decrease in active and drill cases simultaneously occurred in 14 provinces," he said.

The provinces in question are Lampung, Riau Islands, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Banten, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), West Kalimantan, Southeast Sulawesi, Maluku, North Maluku and West Papua. .

Several provinces also recorded a significant decrease in BOR, such as DKI Jakarta, which decreased by 21.55 percent and Banten, which fell by 20.57 percent in the past week.

"This shows that although the Delta variant is highly contagious, the resistance of the entire government and society by collaborating is actually effective in dealing with it," he said.