IDI Aceh Reminds Of The Potential Spike Of The Third Wave Of COVID-19 At The End Of The Year

ILLUSTRATION/UNSPLASH

BANDA ACEH - The Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Aceh asked the government and the public to anticipate a surge in the third wave of COVID-19 cases, which is epidemiologically predicted to occur in Indonesia at the end of 2021.

The Chairperson of IDI Aceh, Dr Safrizal Rahman, said that the anticipatory steps that must be taken from now on are for residents to be more disciplined in implementing health protocols while increasing the coverage of COVID-19 vaccinations.

"Of course we expect predictions by epidemiologists who say that it is possible that Indonesia will experience a third wave in December 2021, hopefully it can be controlled from now on," said Safrizal, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, October 6.

Safrizal explained that currently the trend of adding new corona cases nationally had begun to decline. In fact, the world health organization (WHO) assesses Indonesia as one of the best countries in controlling COVID-19 in 2021.

The downward trend in new positive cases also occurred in Aceh. Then the conditions for the application of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) in Aceh have also begun to stretch so that the level has dropped. It's just one area, namely Pidie Regency, which is still PPKM level four.

"Even so, it doesn't mean that we Aceh is free. The addition of daily cases is still around 50, but compared to the previous two months, this is good news for us," continued Safrizal.

So, according to Safrizal, what needs to be considered is that COVID-19 has not ended. And nationally, it is predicted that there will be another spike in cases in December 2021, which is triggered by long holidays and other causes.

Therefore, IDI asks the public to increase vaccination coverage and be more disciplined in health protocols in an effort to anticipate a faster spike in COVID-19 cases as predicted by epidemiology.

"If this happens, I'm worried that Aceh, as usual, will see another spike in January 2022," said Safrizal.

So at a time like this, vaccination should be strengthened even more in an effort to achieve community immunity, so that when a spike in cases occurs, we are better prepared to deal with it," he added.

Should, said Safrizal, Aceh targets vaccination coverage to reach 30 percent by October 2021, from a total of 4 million people who are targeted for vaccination in Tanah Rencong. Currently, Banda Aceh is the area with the highest vaccination coverage.

“Others still have a lot of resistance to vaccination. Aceh's target is actually this October 30 percent of Aceh's population has been vaccinated, at least the first dose. This is a hard work, because some areas still show a vaccination rate of 17 percent, and so on,” said Safrizal.