Indeed, extending the enforcement of PPKM was a hard decision. However, there is no other way.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said the government has succeeded in suppressing the increase in COVID-19 cases as the infection rate has slowly declined thanks to the enforcement of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM).

“Indeed, extending the enforcement of PPKM was a hard decision. However, there is no other way. The number of confirmed cases has quickly jumped. Fortunately, Alhamdulillah (all praise to God), it has started to slowly decline,” he stated here Friday.

He made the statement while distributing the President Aids (Banpres) for Productive Micro Enterprises to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) at the Merdeka Palace's yard.

The statement comes following his visit to Kemayoran Athletes Village COVID-19 Emergency Hospital in Central Jakarta on Friday morning. He found the hospital’s occupancy rate has fallen to 38 percent from the earlier 90 percent.

“We (Indonesians) have to be grateful, since the infection rate on Java Island has started to decline. However, the regions outside Java Island have experienced a rise of COVID-19 transmission," the President added.

Related news: Cases decrease, but pandemic not over yet: Governor Baswedan

Actually, the pandemic had subsided in the country from January until May 2021. At the same time, economic activity had also started to recover.

However, the unexpected rapid and massive transmission of the COVID-19 Delta variant increased the number of infected people drastically and negatively impacted the national economic recovery, he said.

According to data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force website, there were 43,479 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, raising to 554,484 active cases on July 29, 2021. Meanwhile, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia has reached 3,331,206 cases since March 2020.

Related news: Bed occupancy at Jakarta's COVID-19 hospitals falls to 73%


Translator: Indra Pribadi, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2021