Don’t be Selfish, Follow Health Protocols to Prevent Coronavirus from Spreading: Indonesian Minister

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia mulls to ban crowd-pulling celebrations during Christmas and New Year holidays to anticipate a surge in the Covid-19 cases.

“Amid the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in European countries and other parts of the world, I call on the people to avoid selfish behavior but strictly follow the health protocols to prevent the resurgence of Covid-19 cases. The past bad experiences happened because of our negligence,” said Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in a statement on Monday, November 15.

The government is also preparing various health and economic plans to anticipate the potential increase in Covid cases after the Christmas and New Year holidays.

“The result of our effort to contain the spread of the Covid-19 cases during the Christmas and New Year holidays in 2021 will determine the sustainability of our economic recovery,” said Luhut.

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It is important to remain cautious as the effective reproduction number in Java and Bali in the past week increases. It can be seen from several regencies and cities in Java and Bali areas where weekly cases and treatments begin to increase.

“We should be cautious during the Christmas and New Year holidays. Currently, a report issued by Google shows a significant increase in people’s mobility. The number is higher than the Christmas and New Year holidays last year and it is nearly the number of people’s mobility during the Idul Fitri holiday in May and June this year.”

The number of people who follow the health protocols is also decreasing and that is certainly worrying as the number of people’s mobility and confirmed cases increases.

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The government will tighten the use of the Covid-19 contact tracing app PeduliLindungi and the health protocols in public areas and continue to hasten the vaccination, including for the elderly where the vaccination rate is still below 50 percent.

Besides, the government will continue to strengthen the testing and tracking activities conducted by the military and police. It is to detect active cases and treat patients who tested positive at a centralized quarantine facility. This also aims to prevent coronavirus from spreading at the family level.

(Writer: Ade Miranti Karunia | Editor: Erlangga Djumena)

Source: https://money.kompas.com/read/2021/11/16/050800826/pemerintah-bakal-larang-perayaan-tahun-baru-luhut-saya-mengajak-semuanya-tak.