Jakarta Extends Partial Lockdown as Hospitals Feel Weight of Covid-19 Caseload

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has decided to extend partial lockdown, known in the capital as tighter large-scale social distancing or PSBB, by two weeks to October 11, 2020. The move comes nearly two weeks after he first imposed the measure September 14-27.

“[The Jakarta Provincial Administration] decided to extend tight large social distancing to October 11, because of the possibility that Covid-19 cases will rise if we loosen them,” Anies said in a press release on September 24.

He added that the extension of the tight PSBB has been approved by the central government. “The Covid-19 Task Force for Jakarta also suggested prolonging tight PSBB if there is no significant reduction in [Covid-19] cases.”

Also read: Jakarta Reimposes Partial Lockdown from Sept. 14 as Covid-19 Cases Surge

He added that another factor behind extending the enforcement of the policy is the ratio between the decreasing availability of hospital beds and ICU wards for Covid-19 cases in the 67 hospitals treating the coronavirus in Jakarta, in contrast to their increasing number this September.

“Out of the 4,812 beds in isolation wards [for Covid-19 cases], only 19 percent are available. As for the 695 beds earmarked for Covid-19 patients in ICU wards, only 26 percent are vacant,” Anies said.

“The number of available beds in wards are decreasing in line with the large-scale PCR tests carried out by authorities in Jakarta,” added the Gerindra party politician.

As of September 23, Jakarta has carried out PCR tests to 857,863 people, or 80.588 people for every 1 million inhabitants. Anies noted that the tests over the past week alone is six times higher than WHO standards.

Also read: Shrouded Ghosts and Coffins: Morbid Tools to Get Indonesians to Mask Up

“Aside from increasing the number of [PCR] tests, we are also trying to keep the number of beds in [Covid-19 wards] to less than 60 percent, in line with WHO standards,” he said.