45 Regencies/Cities Outside Java-Bali Island Become Priority For Vaccine Injection Due To Spike In COVID-19 Cases

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/BETWEEN

JAKARTA - People in dozens of regencies/cities outside Java-Bali Island will be prioritized to get the COVID-19 vaccine injection. This was done due to the increase in positive cases over the last few weeks in the region.

"45 regencies/cities outside Java-Bali will be our priority to get additional vaccines because they have high confirmed cases," said Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin in an online press conference broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube account, Monday, August 9. .

In addition, he also asked the 7 agglomeration regions in Java-Bali to be able to complete up to 70 percent of vaccinations. Budi said the entire process of the COVID-19 vaccine must be completed by next September to prevent massive transmission of the virus.

The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) will increase its testing capability to 300 or even 400 thousand specimens per day to reduce the positivity rate. Budi said the application of testing and tracing was a directive from President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"Mr. President also emphasized the need for improved testing and tracing. This is our weakness that is very much needed in the future if we want to gradually open up daily activities without sacrificing the security element," he said.

Not only testing, tracing must also be improved because in its implementation now the TNI and Polri have been assisted. "We hope that in the next two weeks there will be significant progress and everything has been integrated into one," said the former Deputy Minister of SOEs.

"More aggressive tracking and testing is being carried out in all corners of the archipelago. With the help of the TNI-Polri, we think it can be a tool so that we can gradually balance economic activities while on the other hand maintaining our security together," he concluded.