Expert Reflects on COVID Situation ahead of PPKM Continuation
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20 September 2021 16:17 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government is set to announce the continuation of its public activity restriction (PPKM) across Java and Bali today. University of Indonesia (UI) epidemiologist Iwan Ariawan said the situation had been quite controllable after the restrictions were introduced in early July.
However, he reminded members of the public to remain alert and avoid another sudden surge in COVID-19 cases, especially following slackened restrictions in various sectors.
“The risk of seeing a case spike is still high. Areas outside Java and Bali need more attention as cases outside the two islands have not seen cases drop as fast as Java and Bali,” said Iwan to Tempo on September 20. “The proportion of cases outside of Java-Bali continue to grow.”
In order to prevent future coronavirus case surges, the national spokesperson for COVID-19 Wiku Adisasmito said the national vaccination scope would be increased to 10 million people per 10 days from August. He noted that there were 80 cities and regencies with low obedience levels in the use of facemasks.
“We have survived the second wave and now our main task is to prevent future case surges,” Wiku reminded.
Data from the COVID-19 task force this week suggests national cases continue to drop for eight weeks in a row and is a 88.9 percent drop compared to when Indonesia faced the second surge.
Read: Experts Talk about New COVID-19 Strain and PPKM Effectiveness
DEWI NURITA