Indonesia Plans for Phasing Out Emergency Covid Measures on July 26

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia has extended its emergency Covid-19 measures (PPKM Darurat) to July 25 and will ease rules in stages on July 26 if the number of cases continues to decrease.

“If the trend in new Covid-19 cases continues to decline, the government will ease the restrictions in stages starting from July 26,” said President Joko Widodo in a televised message on Tuesday, July 20.

The President, who is popularly known as Jokowi, said the government continues to monitor, observe the situations on the ground and listen to the voices of the people affected by the emergency measures. Jokowi said that the implementation of the emergency measures, which began on July 3, was inevitable even though it was a tough decision to make.

Also read: Poll: Public Trust in Jokowi’s Response to Covid-19 Crisis Falls

The policy aims to reduce the transmission of Covid-19 and reduce the pressure on the healthcare system due to the increasing demand for treatment in hospitals. “This is to avoid overloaded healthcare system due to the high number of Covid-19 patients and to ensure the healthcare services for patients with other critical illnesses are not disrupted," said Jokowi.

"But alhamdulillah [praise be to God] and we are grateful that after the decision of emergency measures was taken, the number of cases and the need for hospital beds decreased," he said.

Also read: Indonesia Receives Foreign Aid to Fight Covid-19 Surge

It was previously reported that the government imposed restrictions on activities in various sectors during the emergency measures. The restricted activities affect commercial buildings, educational institutions, shopping centers, restaurants, tourism, and transportation. The emergency Covid-19 measures have been implemented in Java and Bali and 15 other districts or cities outside Java and Bali which reach a high number of coronavirus transmissions.

As of July 19, the daily number of Covid-19 cases in the country reached 34,257, bringing the total number of infections to 2,911,733 since the first two cases were announced in March 2020.

(Writer: Dian Erika Nugraheny | Editor: Kristian Erdianto)

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/07/20/19453901/jokowi-pembukaan-ppkm-darurat-secara-bertahap-pada-26-juli-jika-tren-kasus.