National Police Chief Reminds To Be Vigilant Of COVID-19 Spike During Christmas-New Year Holidays

National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo/DOC Public Relations of the Police

JAKARTA - National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo reminded the TNI-Polri ranks and stakeholders to be aware of the potential spike in COVID-19 positive cases during the Christmas and New Year (Nataru) holidays by monitoring strong health protocols.

The National Police Chief said that anticipatory steps must be prepared to prevent the potential growth rate of COVID-19 in Indonesia after the national holiday.

"Because we will face Nataru, we know that with the COVID-19 rate control that we are implementing, community activities have begun to be relaxed because the level of each PPKM has been lowered. said General Sigit, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, October 26.

The National Police Chief reminded that although the number of COVID-19 in Indonesia has begun to be controlled, this does not necessarily mean that the handling and control of the pandemic will no longer be optimal in the future.

Sigit emphasized that discipline in implementing health protocols (prokes) must still be carried out even though the growth rate of COVID-19 has decreased. Especially, when facing long holidays later.

"The key is how in the midst of relaxation and the opportunities given for activities, health protocol must be carried out strictly and strongly," he said.

According to General Sigit, this anticipation effort requires discipline and awareness from all levels of Indonesian society.

"To maintain the progress because we have seen that in some areas it has started to loosen, especially the use of masks," said Sigit.

The National Police Chief is worried that if the public and all parties involved are not alert and careful, there will be a potential for the COVID-19 number to increase again, especially during the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays.

This increase could be due to several factors, such as increased community mobility.

"If we are not careful when we face Nataru, there will be a high potential for mobility, crowds and this will have an impact on increasing the number of COVID-19. Because in our neighboring countries there are still fluctuations in the number of COVID-19," Sigit continued.

The National Police Chief once again reminded that Indonesia's success in handling and controlling COVID-19 has made Indonesia ranked number one in Southeast Asia. This positive trend must be maintained in the future.

He said collaboration between rule enforcement, health care discipline, implementation of 3M and 3T as well as acceleration of vaccination is the key to still being able to control the rate of growth of COVID-19.

"This collaboration between law enforcement, health care discipline, 3M and 3T and vaccination is a collaboration to keep the COVID-19 rate under control," said Sigit.

On the other hand, the National Police Chief emphasized the TNI-Polri ranks and stakeholders to continue to synergize and join hands to realize the target of Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to achieve 70 percent vaccination by the end of this year.

According to him, the strategy being implemented starting from mass vaccination, "door to door" to touch remote communities, especially vulnerable people, the elderly and also people who do have certain risks must be carried out aggressively.

"Of course, this is part of the contribution of the TNI-Polri who join the existing 'stakeholders' to be able to accelerate the vaccination, which is the hope of the President," said General Sigit.