TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Mujiyono, head of Jakarta DPRD's Government Commission, welcomed the government's plan to tighten the large-scale social restrictions or PSBB from January 11 to 25. He said that tightening restrictions is necessary as Covid-19 hospitals in Jakarta could soon collapse.

As of today, the occupancy rate of referral hospitals in the capital has reached 87 percent.

"Tightening is the appropriate policy for curbing the widespread transmission of Covid-19," Mujiyono said on Thursday, January 7.

According to the Democrat politician, the government needs to think about temporarily mobilizing health workers from areas with low levels of infection. "Or ask for the support of health workers from other countries that have control over the pandemic."

In the short term, he said, the government must also prepare to raise hospitals' capacities as well as the human resources needed to treat Covid-19 patients. Over the last few days, the number of infections has soared.

What is no less important, he said, is to build a crisis sensitivity among the people, so they are fully aware that the pandemic is not under control. Mujiyono said that people now tend to neglect health protocols and more relaxed, because the government has announced the Covid-19 vaccination program.

He added that disseminating information about daily cases—like what was done at the beginning of the pandemic—needs to be done again. That way, it will increase public awareness of the still existing danger of coronavirus.

Read: Jakarta Wants Simultaneous Social Restriction in Bodetabek

Imam Hamdi