Stay Vigilant, President Jokowi Tells People Amid COVID-19 Cases Surge

INDUSTRY.co.id - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has appealed to the public to stay vigilant amid COVID-19 cases surge in recent weeks.

“I urge everyone to be vigilant. Health and economic aspects must go hand in hand,” the President said at the opening of the 8^th National Conference of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, Wednesday (30/06).

On that occasion, the President also ordered relevant stakeholders to pay attention to the indicators of COVID-19 handling so that they can respond quickly and appropriately to the latest development of the pandemic.

The Government, he added, has managed to reduce COVID-19 active cases from 176,000 cases in early February to 87,000 cases in mid-May 2021; yet, following long Eid holiday and a new variant of the Corona virus, the active cases have reached 228,000 today.

The cases surge, according to the President, has led to an increase in the national bed occupancy rate (BOR).

The national BOR, which dropped to 28 percent in mid-May, has now jumped to 72 percent, while the BOR at the Wisma Atlet COVID-19 Emergency Hospital has reached 90 percent.

According to the President, the Government will impose Emergency Activity Restrictions (emergency PPKM).

“Today we are going to complete the policy draft and we hope that after it is completed we can impose the implementation of the Emergency PPKM,” he remarked.

The President also pointed out that based on the results of the Government’s assessment there are 44 regencies and cities in six provinces in the island of Java that require special handling in line with the WHO transmission rate indicators.

Those 44 regencies/cities are South Tangerang and Tangerang (Banten province);  Purwakarta, Sukabumi, Depok, Cirebon, Cimahi, Bogor, Bekasi, Banjar, Bandung, Karawang, and Bekasi Regency (West Java province); West Jakarta, East Jakarta, South Jakarta, North Jakarta, and Central Jakarta (Jakarta Province); Sukoharjo, Rembang, Pati, Kudus, Tegal, Surakarta, Semarang, Salatiga, Magelang, Klaten, Kebumen, Grobogan, and Banyumas (Central Java province); Sleman, Yogyakarta, and Bantul (Yogyakarta province); and Tulungagung, Sidoarjo, Madiun, Lamongan, Surabaya, Mojokerto, Malang, Madiun, Kediri, and Blitar (East Java province).

The President further said that tackling COVID-19 is the key to economic recovery and various economic indicators, including the consumer confidence index (IKK) and the retail sales index are strongly influenced by the development of COVID-19 cases.