Only Indonesia’s Central Government Has Authority to Designate Covid-19 Safe Zones

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The Indonesian government’s Covid-19 Task Force has asserted its authority to determine Covid-19 safe zones around the country after a mayor proclaimed her city to be a green zone.

The task force laid down the law on August 6, days after Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini proclaimed her city to be a Covid-19 safe zone or green zone.

“The [central branch] of the Covid-19 Task Force officially reserves the right to designate green zones,” said Covid-19 Task Force spokesman Wiku Adisasmito.

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“Once we [determined if a city or area is a safe zone], it can be seen on the Task Force’s website at www.covid19.go.id. We use 15 indicators, among them the Effective Reproductive Score [Rt], the availabilty of health services, and the ratio of medical personnel on the ground.”

Wiku added that other factors such as epidemiology, surveillance, public health and legal services will be considered.

“According to our data, Surabaya is still a red zone.”

East Java governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa agreed with Wiku.

"The [central government's Covid-19] task force [is the only authority] that can determine an area's status, not municipal or provincial administrations," said the former Social Affairs minister in Surabaya on August 4.

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Tri Rismaharini made her claim August 3.

“Surabaya is [a] green [zone], as we managed to reduce the level of transmission,” she said in a press release. "We also have a high rate of recoveries.”

Surabaya’s Covid -19 Task Force member Irvan Widyanto agreed.

"We managed to make [Surabaya] a 'green zone' as we managed to keep the transmission rate to below one since June 26 and raise the number of recoveries,” he said.

But the www.covid19.go.id website proved otherwise as it showed Surabaya to be a Covid-19 red zone, along with other East Java cities like Batu, Gresik, Jombang and Malang.