The Importance Of Vaccination And Prokes Discipline To Control Active Cases And Treatment In Hospitals

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hatarto (Photo: Public Relations)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said the proportion of COVID-19 cases outside Java-Bali was still lower. However, there was an increase so that the proportion of active cases became 24.1 percent of the national active cases (128,536 out of 533,898 active cases nationwide).

“In the past week, the national Effective Reproductive Number (Rt) rose higher to 1.18 and there was also an increase in all islands, except the Maluku Islands. The government will continue to monitor and prepare mitigation measures so that this can be anticipated further," said Airlangga in a press statement after the PPKM Evaluation Meeting, reported Tuesday, February 22.

There are three provinces outside Java-Bali with the highest active cases above 10,000, but the hospital bed occupancy ratio (BOR) is still under control, and the conversion of COVID-19 TT in hospitals is still relatively low. The three provinces are North Sumatra (31 percent BOR, 19 percent Conversion), South Sulawesi (30 percent BOR, 16 percent conversion), and East Kalimantan (29 percent BOR, 23 percent conversion).

Update BOR and Isoters Outside Java-Bali

Although daily cases and active cases continue to increase, the BOR rate outside Java-Bali is still under control, which is 26 percent, while the National BOR is 38 percent.

For all provinces outside Java-Bali, BOR is < 30 percent, except for South Sumatra (46 percent), North Sulawesi (35 percent), Central Sulawesi (35 percent), Bengkulu (34 percent), Lampung (33 percent), Kalimantan South (31 percent) and North Sumatra (31 percent).

At the Regency/City level outside Java-Bali, the trend of patient care in hospitals is starting to increase. The BOR that needs attention is in the City of Jayapura with the BOR for the Hospital at 55.24 percent and the BOR for the ICU Jayapura at 59.46 percent, and in the City of Palembang with the BOR for the Hospital at 55.72 percent.

Meanwhile, to mitigate the risk of increasing cases outside Java-Bali, it is necessary to activate the Central Isolation (Isoter) facility, which at the time of the previous surge in the Delta variant, the capacity reached 48,799 TT. Currently, the capacity of Isoter outside Java-Bali is 29,723 TT, and 1,751 TT is filled or the BOR is still at 5.89 percent.

“According to the direction of the President, for areas with high and rapidly increasing cases, they must ensure the readiness of Centralized Isolation (Isoter) facilities, and the use of Telemedicine. In addition, it must also ensure the availability of sufficient drugs, both in the regional government and in regional pharmacies," explained Coordinating Minister Airlangga.

For this reason, the Government will continue to encourage the preparation of Isoter facilities outside Java-Bali. Especially for areas where the current isoter occupancy is quite high, namely North Sulawesi from a capacity of 508 TT already filled to 324 TT or BOR has reached 63.78 percent, so it will continue to be monitored and paid special attention.

"The government will prepare an Isoter 2-3 times higher than during the Delta surge as a contingency plan," added Coordinating Minister Airlangga.

Implementation of PPKM Outside Java-Bali

PPKM outside Java-Bali will still last until February 28, 2022, and based on the results of the evaluation in the last two weeks, the Pandemic Situation Assessment Level has increased risk. This is indicated by an increase in the number of regencies/cities included in the assessment levels 4 and 3, and a decrease in the number of regencies/cities in the assessment levels 2 and 1. The details are as follows (as of 18 February 2022):

- Assessment Level 4 was 35 Regencies/Cities (up from the previous week as many as 10 Regencies/Cities).- Assessment Level 3 was 160 Regencies/Cities (up from the previous week as many as 81 Regencies/Cities).- Assessment Level 2 was 183 Regencies/Cities. City (down from the previous week as many as 270 regencies/cities).- Assessment Level 1 was 8 regencies/cities (down from the previous week as many as 25 regencies/cities). Progress of Vaccination Vaccination Dose-1 has reached 189.6 million doses (91.06 percent), and Vaccination Dose-2 has reached 140.3 million doses (67.37 percent). Meanwhile, the achievement of Dose-3 Vaccination (Booster) has reached 8.5 million doses (4.06 percent).

For Dose-1 Vaccination, there are still 3 provinces outside Java-Bali with achievements below 70 percent, namely Maluku, West Papua and Papua Provinces. Then, for Dose-2 Vaccination, there are 9 provinces with achievements below 50 percent, namely South Kalimantan, Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, North Maluku, Aceh, West Papua, Maluku, and Papua.

Then, for Dose-3 Vaccination (Booster), all provinces outside Java-Bali are still below 10 percent, so it still needs to be accelerated. Regarding vaccination for the elderly, there are still 7 Provinces with Dose-1 achievement <60 percent, and for Dose-2 achievement, there are still 25 Provinces with <60 percent achievement.

"Mr. President gave directions that the risk of death must be anticipated, especially for those who are elderly, have not been vaccinated and have comorbidities, then an initial screening must also be carried out in the ER, so that the treatment is better. Dose-2 vaccination for the elderly should be prioritized to achieve at least 70% of the target. All relevant parties must step down to help accelerate the vaccination," said Coordinating Minister Airlangga.

President Joko Widodo also continues to direct the community to increase the discipline of implementing health protocols (prokes), and it is necessary to continue to increase public awareness to immediately get complete and booster vaccinations.

PEN Program Updates

Coordinating Minister Airlangga said that President Joko Widodo requested that the financial bills related to claims for hospital treatment costs in 2021, be completed by the Minister of Finance in stages, including for the preparation of his DIPA. Also for bills for Health Workers Incentives.

Then, for the Cash Assistance Program for Street Vendors, Stalls and Fishermen (BT-PKLWN), the General Guidelines have been issued and are finalizing the technical guidelines, as well as finalizing the completion of the budget administration process at the Ministry of Finance.

"Hopefully, before the end of this month, the BT-PKLWN program can run," concluded Coordinating Minister Airlangga.

Also attending the press conference were Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, and Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin.