Ministry Of Health: Positive For COVID-19 Down From 3,463 To 2,244 Cases During 2 Last Weeks

Wirjawan Hardjamulia, an elderly person aged 104 years underwent COVID-19 vaccination at Vania Hospital, Bogor City, West Java, Tuesday, March 21, 2021. (Antara)

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force, Prof. Wiku Adisasmito, said the government made PPKM an instrument to protect the public when cases of COVID-19 transmission increased.

"PPKM is a policy that protects the community if in the future there will be another spike in cases," said Wiku when asked for confirmation, Friday, September 23.

He said the government implemented the PPKM level according to the conditions of COVID-19 transmission in each region. The government has implemented this policy consistently since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 until now.

The Indonesian government, said Wiku, continues to prioritize the principle of caution and vigilance in dealing with transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 type of corona virus that causes COVID-19.

The government is still implementing PPKM

Regulation regarding PPKM which has just been stated in the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs Number 42 of 2022 concerning PPKM in Java-Bali and the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs Number 43 of 2022 concerning PPKM outside Java-Bali which is valid until October 3, 2022.

All regions in Indonesia still have PPKM Level 1 status. The extension of PPKM is carried out based on input from experts, among others, taking into account the positivity rate of COVID-19 is still above the World Health Organization standard, which is five percent of the population.

According to the results of the analysis of the Ministry of Health's Data and Information Center (Kemenkes) as of September 20, 2022, positive cases of COVID-19 in the last two weeks nationwide decreased from 3,463 to 2,244 cases and the number of active cases decreased from 42,439 to 27,972 cases.

During that period, the number of COVID-19 patients being treated decreased from 3,786 to 3,313 people, the percentage of patients who died fell from 2.47 to 2.46 percent, and the bed occupancy rate for COVID-19 patients in hospitals fell from 5.94 percent to 5.32 percent.

Separately, YARSI University Post-Sarjana Director Prof. Tjandra Yoga Aditama said, there are a number of things that need to be guaranteed during the transition from pandemic to endemic.

As for what is guaranteed, namely minimizing the circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, especially in high risk groups, as well as preventing disease transmission and handling patients, including handling long-term effects of COVID-19.

"If the COVID-19 pandemic is declared over, say in the next few months, the virus will still be in the community, although it will not have a significant impact," he said.

"Even though the pandemic will end later, health awareness must still be carried out," continued Tjandra.

Tjandra also revealed the need to intensify prevention efforts, examinations, vaccinations, and handling cases of infection in health care facilities.