Spokesperson For The COVID-19 Task Force Prof Wiku: The Government Increases Regional Alertness For COVID-19 Response Towards Endemic

COVID-19 Task Force Spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito (Photo: BNPB dock)

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force (Satgas) Prof Wiku Adisasmito said that in an effort to reach an endemic, the government will continue to increase regional resilience and alertness in responding to COVID-19 conditions.

"With effective and targeted policies from the government and community compliance in carrying them out, it is not impossible that Indonesia will be free from the pandemic and achieve a productive society that is safe from COVID-19," he said at a press conference that was attended online in Jakarta, Tuesday.

He said, several countries are currently starting to prepare for the COVID-19 endemic. In Indonesia, the COVID-19 endemic has also begun to be echoed.

"It is important for me to emphasize that the gradual opening of socio-economic activities until finally reaching a productive and safe community for COVID-19 during the endemic period, will not be achieved if the main capital, namely compliance with health protocols, is not carried out with discipline," he said.

Wiku added, the government continues to increase efforts to implement health protocols in public places, such as shopping centers, terminals, airports and other places that have the potential to cause crowds.

"Screening, starting from checking the temperature, the obligation to use masks and monitoring capacity through applications have been carried out," he said.

In every public place, he continued, it is also advised to have their own task force post to monitor health protocols.

Therefore, according to him, efforts to have a task force post must be carried out with a larger scope to the smallest layer.

"Unfortunately, the postal task force as a coordination forum for monitoring health protocols up to the RT-RW level has not been fully utilized," he said.

Wiku said that until September 26, 2021, only 31.1 percent of task force posts were formed throughout Indonesia.

"In fact, there are 11 provinces where the task force posts are still below 10 percent," he said.

He said the 11 provinces are Central Kalimantan, Southeast Sulawesi, Bengkulu, Bangka Belitung Islands, North Kalimantan, South Sumatra, Maluku, NTT, Central Sulawesi, Papua and North Maluku.

"These provinces are precisely the provinces that are most vulnerable regarding the compliance of their citizens in wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining distance," he said.

In addition, he continued, the performance of task force posts that had been formed in other provinces was also experiencing a decline.

As of September 27, 2021, the performance of the Command Post reported only 681,483 activities. In fact, on September 24, 2021, there were 771,440 activities.

"This is of course very unfortunate, because the task force of the Command Post will be even more vital when cases have started to decline and activities have started to run normally," said Wiku.