TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Ombudsman had suggested the Jakarta administration to focus on maximizing the COVID-19 large-scale social restriction (PSBB) protocol before implementing the 'new normal' in the capital city.

They strongly argued that Jakarta has yet passed its peak pandemic period. Ombudsman Jakarta chairperson Teguh Nugroho on Thursday implied that the talks of implementing the new protocol would be too premature.

“The pandemic has yet reached its peak but there are already talks of new normal. It’s too premature to even discuss that,” Nugroho wrote in a text message to Tempo today, May 28.

He said that if the Jakarta administration intends to enter the new normal phase of the global pandemic then such a decision must be heavily based on the result after an evaluation of the third phase of PSBB, which the Ombudsman strongly supports.

Only after the third PSBB phase produces intended results then the government is free to loosen the restrictions gradually. Nugroho personally viewed that the level of COVID-19 transmissions remains fluctuant especially considering the spike in public activities before and after the Eid holiday.

“What the first and second PSBB had gained must be maintained. But not by introducing a new normal or relaxing the restriction. It should be otherwise, make it stricter,” he said.

IMAM HAMDI