TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Spokesman for the COVID-19 Task Force Wiku Adisasmito said that thousands of villages/ sub-districts in Indonesia did not implement the health protocols during the lingering pandemic.

“One of the vital strategies to suppress potential transmission while preventing the spread of the Omicron variant is the discipline to comply with health protocols,” said Wiku in a press conference, Tuesday, December 21.

He outlined that based on data as of December 12, people in 1,948 of the 8,584 total villages/ sub-districts, or 22.69 percent, did not wear face masks in public areas.

Additionally, people in 1,995 villages or sub-districts or 23.24 percent did not follow physical distancing.

Wiku lamented the conditions yet acknowledged that maintaining the public discipline towards the health orders when the COVID-19 trend was under control was not easy.

However, the health protocol is a pandemic control strategy that is proven to be easy, cheap, and effective to be applied in an effort to curb virus transmission albeit the country's vaccination rate is high.

“The vaccination strategy cannot stand alone. Cases can still rise even though vaccination rates are high,” he underlined.

Wiku thus encouraged the public to work together playing an active role in preventing the entry of more new variants of COVID-19 such as Omicron.

Read: Jakarta Governor Laments Loosened Health Protocol Discipline

ANTARA