Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government must build public confidence and trust amid the enforcement of extended community activity restrictions (PPKM) until August 2, 2021, House of Representatives (DPR RI) Speaker Puan Maharani has said.

"Build the people's trust on the (PPKM enforcement) process to convince them that the PPKM enforcement would be advantageous," she remarked here on Tuesday.

Adjustments towards PPKM enforcement must not lead to a decline in public trust and the government, instead, must ensure it has public support, the Speaker said.

Besides working towards the good outcome of the regulation, the authorities should ensure proper enforcement, she added.

PPKM enforcement must not be diluted by counterproductive acts by the authorities, for instance, reducing the COVID-19 testing number below the daily target, Maharini said.

"The public may become suspicious if they find a correlation between the declining daily infection rate and the decline in testing rate. Their suspicion must be defused to maintain public trust in the government's current handling of the COVID-19 pandemic," she elaborated.

The DPR Speaker also reminded the government to not only monitor the national testing rate, but ensure proper testing rate in each province.

"Bigger testing rate target must be set for regions imposed by level 4 (of the PPKM) and regions labelled as 'red zone'," she remarked.

Maharani also noted that the monitoring of the daily testing rate for each region is essential as it would serve as a basis for any government decision to rescind the enforcement of restrictions in the regions.

She also warned that if the testing rate drops, a sudden "time bomb" of positive cases may further overwhelm the country.

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Translator: Imam B, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
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