Airlangga: PPKM In Sulawesi Has Not Been Effective In Reducing Mobility

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto/ANTARA

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto stated that the implementation of the restriction on community activities (PPKM) in the Sulawesi region has not been effective in reducing community mobility.

"The average mobility outside residential areas during the PPKM period 3 to 9 August actually increased from the previous period," he said, quoted by Antara, Saturday, August 14.

Therefore, Airlangga emphasized that PPKM in the area must be tightened so that there is no trend of adding daily cases or through various other efforts to reduce community mobility.

In addition, the government also continues to increase the number of testing by prioritizing suspects and close contacts of confirmed cases targeted at a minimum of 10 close contacts per confirmed case.

Airlangga also asked all Regional Heads in Sulawesi to continue to increase testing and tracing until they reach the targets set in the InMendagri so that further steps can be taken to suppress the spread of the virus.

However, the additional weekly confirmed active cases in Sulawesi Island began to decline, namely, Southeast Sulawesi decreased by 146 cases, South Sulawesi decreased 692 cases, and Gorontalo zero cases.

Meanwhile, in West Sulawesi and North Sulawesi, there were an increase of six and 11 cases, respectively, while in Central Sulawesi it was a concern due to the addition of 1,826 cases.

Then there are two provinces that have a hospital occupancy rate or Bed Occupancy Rate (BOR) above 70 percent, namely Gorontalo and Central Sulawesi with 71 percent each.

For West Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi, BOR levels are low below 50 percent, namely 36 percent and 43 percent, respectively, while for the Provinces of South Sulawesi and North Sulawesi, it is 55 percent and 59 percent, respectively.

"To reduce BOR, the conversion of hospital beds into COVID-19 beds by 40 percent must continue to be carried out according to the arrangements set by the Minister of Health," he stressed.

On the other hand, the achievement of vaccination in Sulawesi continues to be accelerated until August 13, 2021, with North Sulawesi Province being the highest at 35.93 percent of the target having been vaccinated.

Then followed by South Sulawesi with 21.25 percent of the target, Gorontalo 20.56 percent, Southeast Sulawesi 16.91 percent, West Sulawesi 15.93 percent, and Central Sulawesi 14.43 percent.

Not only that, but Airlangga also directed that several areas that did not have an isolation place were asked to immediately prepare a centralized isolation facility (Isoter) and asked people who were self-isolating to move to Isoter with more adequate health services.

"We continue to monitor the availability of oxygen from the center and immediately follow up on areas that need it," he said.