An Increase In COVID-19 Cases Must Be A Serious Attention To The Government, It's Time To Evaluate Mass Collection Activities

Illustration of mass gathering in a concert (Photo by Yvette de Wit on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The number of active cases and deaths due to COVID-19 in the last two months should be a yellow light for the government. It is time to prepare again anticipatory steps against the potential explosion of cases triggered by the Omicron XBB variant.

Deputy Chairman of Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Charles Honoris, said that one of them was by evaluating large numbers of mass gathering activities, which were increasingly rampant at the end of this year.

"Especially if in this activity the enforcement of Prokes is difficult to implement," said Charles, Friday, November 4.

The government also needs to continue to boost booster vaccination (third dose), which according to data from the COVID-19 Task Force as of November 3, 2022, has only reached 27.76 percent.

"All factors that cause the slow pace of booster vaccination, such as limited stock of vaccines in the regions, must be addressed immediately, because again our vaccination rate must be pursued by the faster spread of the virus due to the XBB subvariant," said the legislator from the Jakarta III electoral district.

Charles also asked the Government to re-prepare the worst-case scenario if in the near future the increase in the incidence and death rate from the XBB Omicron increases exponentially.

"If social restrictions must be carried out again in order to reduce transmission, then this must be prepared carefully, both technically in the field and in a way of communicating with the public," said the Deputy Head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Health.

In principle, Charles stressed, all anticipatory policy measures against the potential for the XBB Omicron explosion must be carefully studied and pay attention to many factors comprehensively, so as to minimize the potential losses experienced by the wider community.

"Because in dealing with health outbreaks, people's safety is above all else," said the PDI-P politician.