Last Day of Emergency PPKM, Epidemiologist: 'Not All Regions'

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Epidemiologist from the University of Indonesia, Pandu Riono, predicted that the easing of the restrictions on community activities or emergency PPKM will not be implemented in all regions.

He predicted that the easing will only be in areas which economies are significantly affected due to the tightening of restrictions. "It impacted on areas of high economic growth, such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, where there are protests," said Pandu, Saturday, July 24, 2021.

Pandu said that when referring to epidemiological indicators, actually there has not been much change from the restrictions that have been in effect since July 3.

The decline in the number of daily cases lately is due to the declining number of testing. Meanwhile, the number of patients hospitalized is still high.

President Jokowi previously stated that he would loosen PPKM in Java and Bali starting July 26 if there was a decrease in cases.

The spokesman for the Covid-19 Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, said there were four components of consideration for easing the restrictions.

The indicators for easing the emergency PPKM are the calculation of case trends, health system management capacity; people's aspirations and behavior with a downward trend in mobility, including public complaints that the restrictions should be relaxed immediately; and socio-economic impacts, especially for people with middle to lower incomes and micro-enterprises.

Read also: Experts Argue Validity of Emergency PPKM in Reducing Covid-19 Cases

BUDIARTI UTAMI PUTRI