JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Covid-19 mitigation efforts in Jakarta are sufficient and operating optimally to prevent transmission, according to Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan.
Anies further touched upon the capital city’s residents’ cooperative attitudes in battling the novel virus.
“In Jakarta, the 3T [tracing, treatment, and testing] services are carried out as need be with test results released within 24 hours. The advantage for Jakarta is to ensure there is a collaboration between the society and facility providers.”
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Moreover, Anies claimed that robust Covid-19 mitigation efforts in Jakarta helped the Covid-19 positivity rate and the fatality rate for the Indonesian capital city to remain in a safe zone.
“Per December 7, the positivity rate in the city is 9 percent thus is considered safe as it is under 10 percent. The fatality rate is low.”
The figures demonstrate how there is swift action for Covid-19 patients, claims Anies although he acknowledged that there remains work to be done in preventing virus transmission.
“Individuals infected with Covid-19 are taken care of fast thus the fatality rate is low, but we need to do more. The numbers in the city are good, but the virus still lingers. Our job is to push the number [of those infected] down to as low as possible.”
Anies Baswedan called for residents of the Indonesian capital city to be forthcoming to officials should they experience Covid-19 symptoms which he deems a measure to protect the individual, their family, and other people.
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He called for the same honest approach for individuals who have met family members or colleagues who have been infected by the deadly virus, adding that they should report themselves to the nearest health officials.
Breaking the chain of virus transmission is the biggest challenge in the Covid-19 mitigation efforts in Jakarta specifically in getting the public to practice the provincial government’s 3M program, according to Anies Baswedan.
The 3M program refers to washing hands, social distancing, and wearing a face mask.
At a critical juncture
Griffith University epidemiologist Dicky Budiman, however, explained that what is happening in Jakarta puts the capital city at a critical juncture.