Additions To Daily COVID-19 Cases Continue To Occur, Epidemiologists Question The Seriousness Of The Government

Illustration of transmission of COVID-19 (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The increasing number of daily COVID-19 cases in Indonesia has become a public concern. Epidemiologist from the University of Indonesia, Pandu Riono questioned the government's seriousness in suppressing the virus that has infected 102,051 people. He considered that the government seemed reluctant to reduce the rate of COVID-19 in the community.

"The government alone has no intention of reducing the number of infections, so what can we do," Pandu told reporters, Tuesday, July 29.

He is not sure that the government wants to re-implement the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) regulations as happened at the beginning of the pandemic in Indonesia, although the increase in cases continues to occur in a number of areas. Because, according to Pandu, the government is only trying to revive the economy, but not trying to tackle the transmission of COVID-19 in the community.

Indonesia, he continued, is even very likely to become the center of the COVID-19 pandemic if the government continues to think about economic problems rather than health problems. As an epidemiologist, Pandu feels that he has never heard of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) 's seriousness in tackling this virus.

"What is always talked about is the economy, economic recovery, giving money. But I have never heard of the President's seriousness in tackling a pandemic. So if you want to tackle a pandemic, let's tackle the pandemic. Don't just focus on the economy," he said.

The government's failure to reduce the rate of spread of COVID-19 also made Pandu question the performance of the COVID-19 Task Force, which was formerly known as the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19.

According to him, the team did not comply with their main duties and functions so that they failed to reduce the pandemic rate. He even considered that such a team did not need to be formed because the prevention and handling of COVID-19 could actually be led by the Ministry of Health alone.

It's just that, until now the Ministry of Health and the government in general have not made any serious, focused and specific efforts in tackling this pandemic.

When asked if there were any suggestions or suggestions for the government to quickly suppress this pandemic, Pandu was reluctant to answer further. Because, according to him, many experts and experts have provided advice on this matter, but the government is instead focusing on the economy rather than health.

"My advice is only one, prioritize pandemic prevention. The government has been given advice but it doesn't want to tackle it and all it thinks about is the economy," he said.

"The economy can be regulated, but what cannot be regulated is the pandemic," he added.

Previously, the government's opinion only focused on the people's economy, not overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, was also conveyed by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas). According to him, the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to be oriented towards the economic sector from the start.

This, he continued, has been seen since the COVID-19 pandemic occurred in the world but has not yet entered Indonesia. Taufan said, when many countries formulated related policies to prevent the entry of COVID-19, Indonesia did not do it.

According to him, at that time the government actually took the opposite policy by taking an economic and tourism approach.

The same thing happened when the government implemented Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB). In order to keep the economy moving, the government has even issued several regulations such as the Circular of the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) Number 7 of 2020 concerning applications for industrial activity permits in times of health emergencies and various other regulations that tend to support the movement of the economy.

"Health should be the basis for making policies. So this looks reversed," said Taufan in a press conference broadcast on Komnas HAM's YouTube account, Tuesday, July 28.

It is known, the Ministry of Health on Tuesday, July 28 noted the addition of daily cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia reached 1,748 people. So that the accumulative number of COVID-19 cases has now reached 102,051 people.

The province with the most new cases is DKI Jakarta with 409 new cases and a total of 19,995 cases. Then, East Java with 313 new cases and a total of 21,125 cases. East Java is also the province with the most accumulated cases in Indonesia.

Furthermore, Central Java has 185 new cases with a total of 8,870 cases. South Sulawesi with 132 new cases and a total of 9,123 cases. West Java with 128 new cases and a total of 6,218 cases. Then, South Kalimantan has 93 new cases and a total of 5,782 cases.