Govt Prepares Plans to Mitigate COVID-19 Surge Caused by New Strain

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin in Monday’s virtual press conference confirmed that the Delta variant or COVID-19 B.1.617.2 from India had spread to Indonesia dominated the number of cases in areas such as Kudus, Jakarta, and Bangkalan. 

He also said President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had been briefed on the situation prior to the press conference. 

“We reported to the President that confirmed cases of the B.1617.2 Delta variant from India has dominated the cases in Kudus, Jakarta, and Bangkalan,” said Minister Gunadi on June 14. 

The President, according to the Minister, gave two orders that are hoped to effectively suppress the spread of this virus that consists of implementing stricter public activity restriction enforcement (PPKM) and accelerating the government’s mass vaccination program. 

“[President Jokowi] ordered to conduct 700 thousand daily vaccinations this month and increase the figure to one million for the following month,” he said. “The new virus can spread faster despite not being too deadly. The two orders must be accelerated.”

Budi said Jokowi had also instructed the military and the police to help with the government's planned vaccination through regional governments' programs. 

The Covid-19 committee and national economic recovery (KPC PEN) chairperson, Airlangga Hartarto, added that the strategy to mitigate the case surge in West Java, Central Java, and Jakarta would involve increasing hospital capacity by 40 percent.

The Wisma Atlet COVID-19 emergency hospital has also increased its bed capacity to 7,937. The government said it would also prepare more hotels to be used as isolation facilities, particularly for Jakarta.

Read: Sri Mulyani Talks of COVID-19 Surge in Jakarta, Wisma Atlet 80 Percent Occupied

DEWI NURITA