Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, on Wednesday said the new normal would be phased in gradually in the country.
"The government has designed a joint program in the context of economic recovery,namely an adjustment to COVID-19 in stages for each phase of economic opening, and then, a national economic recovery, in accordance with Government Regulation No. 23 of 2020," Airlangga said at his office in Jakarta.
Airlangga conveyed this after attending a limited meeting led by President Joko Widodo, which was held via video conferencing. "These stages (of implementing the new normal) would be very concerned with the dimensions of health, namely disease development, virus surveillance, health service capacity, and socioeconomic dimensions, protocols for each sector, region, and transportation that are integrated with others," Airlangga explained.
According to Airlangga, various sectors have prepared new normal protocols.
"Among them, there are requirements that should see the development of COVID-19, virus surveillance, health service capacity, business readiness, and public response. The new protocol also relates to hand hygiene, use of masks, physical distancing, self-isolation, and temperature checks, among other things," Airlangga stated.
The government is also reviewing the readiness of each region on whether it can implement a new normal order, for instance, by referring to the basic reproduction number (R0), an epidemiological metric used to describe the contagiousness or transmissibility of COVID-19, which needs to be below one.
“(R0 for) Cases of COVID-19 in Central Java, Bali, DKI Jakarta, and DI Yogyakarta has been relatively dipping below 1 in the last 3 months. In Aceh, West Sumatra, Bangka Belitung, Riau Islands, and Riau, the numbers are already under 1 and the trend has declined, " Airlangga said.
An area can carry out activities under the new normal if its R0 is less than 1, he noted.
The Ministry of Health, according to Airlangga, has prepared a number of protocols to regulate activities in general.
Furthermore, industrial sector regulations also already exist and pertain to activities in industrial estates, among workers, and social distancing guidelines, he pointed out. (INE)
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Translator: Desca L, Azis K
Editor: Suharto
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