IDI Reminds Aceh Provincial Government To Anticipate The Worst Possibility Of The COVID-19 Pandemic

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/ANTARA

BANDA ACEH - The Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Aceh reminded the provincial government to prepare for the worst possible condition of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Tanah Rencong area, triggered by the increasing number of new positive cases.

"The government must prepare for the worst that could happen in Aceh Province. This includes preparing stocks of medicines, oxygen, PPE and so on," said IDI Aceh Chair Dr Safrizal Rahman, quoted by Antara, Saturday, August 14.

Lately, he explained, Aceh is experiencing a significant increase in new COVID-19 cases. Even on Friday, August 13, daily cases increased to 411 people, at the same time this became the highest daily addition throughout the pandemic in Aceh.

In fact, he said, the increase in new cases did not only occur in the adult group, but the COVID-19 infection also continued to target the group of children who also showed an increase.

Therefore, IDI Aceh issued several recommendations to the Aceh Provincial Government in order to respond well to the increase in cases, especially in the Banda Aceh City and Aceh Besar areas which are already at a very worrying level.

Then the increase in cases against groups of children in Aceh also shows a very high trend, even to the point of taking lives.

"In our records, at least this week, there were four children who died due to COVID-19. In fact, two days later the children who died were not children who had comorbidities but were healthy children," he said.

In addition, IDI also asked parents to provide maximum service to children in protecting themselves from being infected from COVID-19, including by giving COVID-19 vaccinations for children who are over 12 years old.

"We encourage the public to have their children vaccinated. We also ask the public to continue to be disciplined in implementing health protocols and the COVID-19 Task Force must carry out strict supervision," he said.

IDI also asked the government to open a contact tracing service based on a PCR swab test to find new cases. Not only for those who are symptomatic, but also those who are asymptomatic.

"If there is a rule for one positive person, then we must trace at least 10 people, then this is the solution to do that," he said.

IDI Aceh also reminded that the implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) level 4 in Banda Aceh must be followed by strict and comprehensive enforcement.

"Banda Aceh is asked to implement PPKM level 4, so this determination is one of the right ways to reduce cases, so it must be followed by disciplined enforcement," he said.