COVID-19 Cases Rise Again, Khofifah: Let's Go Back To Wearing Masks And Tighten Prokes

East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa/PHOTO VIA BETWEEN HO Public Relations of the East Java Provincial Government

SURABAYA - COVID-19 cases in Indonesia are starting to rise again. The Governor of East Java Khofifah Indar Parawansa again invited the public to return to wearing masks, and to discipline health protocols (prokes).

"The President reminded that COVID-19 still exists. Therefore, I invite us to tighten health protocols together. One of them is by wearing masks both inside and outside the room," said Khofifah in a written statement, Tuesday, July 12.

Khofifah said COVID-19 cases in Indonesia began to increase at the end of this May, along with the entry of the BA.4, BA.5 subvariant. Likewise, in the last seven weeks there has been an increase in COVID-19 cases in Indonesia.

This can be seen from the data released by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) which shows that additional COVID-19 cases during the past week (4-10 July 2022) reached 17,388, up 29.13 percent compared to the previous week (27 June-3 July). 2022) which recorded 13,466.

An increase also occurred in the positivity rate. The average positivity rate in Indonesia in the past week has reached 5.45 percent. This level is above the safe limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO) which is 5 percent.

"It must be understood together that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet, we must increase our vigilance again by tightening the process. The high number of COVID-19 cases cannot be separated from the increasing number of additional cases triggered by the Omicron variant and BA.4, BA.5 subvariance," he said. .

Meanwhile, for conditions in East Java, there were 92 new cases added on July 4 and an increase of 159 new cases on July 5. Then the addition of new cases in a row occurred on July 6 as many as 151 cases, on July 7 as many as 169 cases, July 8 as many as 169 cases.

Furthermore, on July 9, there was a decrease in new cases, namely 156 positive cases, down again on July 10 as many as 143 new cases, until on July 11 an addition of 98 cases.

Meanwhile, based on national data as of July 11, 2022, positive confirmed cases of COVID-19 in East Java cumulatively reached 579,532 cases with 98 additional new cases. Currently, there are 325 active cases in East Java or around 0.06 percent with cumulative death cases reaching 31,661 cases or 5.46 percent with the addition of 1 death case.

For the recovery of COVID-19 cases in East Java, 135 new cases were added. So that the cumulative recovery confirmation is as many as 547,546 cases with the addition of new cures as many as 135 new cases.

"When compared to the national development of COVID-19, East Java's condition is still better. It can be seen that the cumulative cases of positive confirmed COVID-19 nationally reached 6,112,996 cases with 20,343 active cases, equivalent to 0.33 percent," he said.

Therefore, Khofifah reminded the public to be more careful and vigilant. In addition to carrying out the prokes strictly, the public is also expected to immediately vaccinate against COVID-19 starting from the first dose to the third dose, aka booster.

Because the completion of the COVID-19 vaccination is considered to be able to increase the body's resistance to COVID-19 attacks. "There are many vaccine outlets and they are easily accessible to the public. And we make sure the stock is very sufficient and it is still given free of charge to the public," he said.

This vaccination is part of efforts to control COVID-19 so it doesn't get worse and causes the economic sector to decline, education and so on.

"For people who haven't received the first, second or booster doses of vaccine, immediately go to the nearest health service or vaccination booth to get vaccinated," Khififah continued.

As is known, based on the Dashboard data of the Ministry of Health/KCPEN, the achievement of the first dose of vaccination in East Java reached 29,941,174 people or 94.08 percent. The achievement of the second dose of vaccination reached 25,638,592 people or 80.56 percent. Meanwhile, East Java booster dose vaccination reached 6,546,000 people.

"Seeing the achievement of vaccination from the first dose to the booster, it means that the main vaccination for booster doses in East Java must be increased. District/city governments can work together with the TNI and Polri to continue to intensify booster vaccinations, so that the COVID-19 outbreak in East Java remains under control," " he said.