Govt Yet to Enforce Emergency PPKM to Contain Omicron, Palace Says

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The expert staffer at the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) Abraham Wirotomo said the government has thus far had no plans to enforce the emergency state of the public activity restrictions or Emergency PPKM albeit the current soaring number of Omicron cases.

On February 7, Indonesia recorded 26,121 new positive cases, much higher than the daily cases on January 7 at 518. The daily addition on February 5 even reached 33,729 cases.

According to him, the Emergency PPKM policy will not be implemented since the hospital bed occupancy rate (BOR) was still under control. Based on data released by the COVID-19 Task Force on Monday, the occupancy rate of hospital ICU was reported at 14 percent, while isolation bed was at 26 percent.

“The latest weekly data shows that although the number of cases has increased significantly, the hospital occupancy rate is still under control. So the emergency brakes do not need to be pulled,” said Abraham in a written statement, Tuesday, Feb. 8.

He also said the government's readiness to face Omicron was better as it always involved experts and relies on scientific data and studies. He ensured that changes to the PPKM level would be adjusted to the assessors of each region with additional indicators of hospital bed occupancy rate and vaccination coverage.

“The President's order in the PPKM evaluation meeting yesterday include vaccination coverage that must continue to be accelerated and more discipline towards health protocols,” said the expert presidential staffer.

Read: Epidemiologist Says Emergency PPKM Needed to Curb COVID-19 Cases

ARRIJAL RACHMAN