WHO: Indonesia Has Not Out Of The Danger Of COVID-19 At All

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JAKARTA - Senior Advisor to the WHO Director-General Diah Saminarsih warned that the decline in COVID-19 cases that are now occurring in the country does not mean that the virus is no longer present in Indonesia. Instead, he considered the need for caution in dealing with the virus.

She said, judging from the current situation, the decline in cases in the second wave does not mean that there will be no third wave. Because, in some countries, cases have actually risen again.

"Now that Indonesia is in a state of declining cases, it must be remembered that that number is the number of people who are sick, and people who are sick need resources, and then they are still there, many people died in the end. This means that they are not out of danger at all and have not actually finished." the COVID-19 pandemic)," she said.

She said that if the current COVID-19 cases subside, what the government can do is continue the vaccination program by revisiting its priorities. This is because, from the available data, not all of the elderly and health workers have been vaccinated.

"For example, if the health workers are seen in any province, there is a WHO situation report that has written about a province whose health workers have not been vaccinated and that special efforts must be made," she said.

"When we talk about justice or equity, it means giving priority to those who need it first and that priority often results in greater efforts to make special efforts so that these vulnerable people want to be vaccinated," she said.

She added, it is also necessary to carry out vaccination by picking up the ball, especially for the elderly. Because there are some cases that this elderly group has difficulty reaching health facilities where vaccinations are located.

"The reason why WHO recommends, WHO asks the group first? Because if the elderly and health workers are protected, they will stop the spread first, they will stop this death first, which must be handled properly so that it stops spreading and people die.

"So, if the COVID-19 case drops now, it will be repaired again from the front again if there are vulnerable groups that have not been defined and each region can be the same and different, so there are indeed a lot of homework to be pursued during the downswing also to do testing, tracing," she said.