The enforcement of people's movement restrictions (PPKM) by the government has managed to lower the COVID-19 composite index by more than 20 percent in Java-Bali, Pandjaitan, who is also the PPKM coordinator, informed in a press release issued here on Friday.
The number of daily cases on Thursday showed an 88.1-percent decline compared to July 15, 2021, he said.
According to the minister, the virus that causes COVID-19 is expected to linger and become endemic, as medicines or vaccines with 100-percent efficacy against COVID-19 are not available so far.
Hence, for handling the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia will continue to accelerate the vaccination program, enforce health protocols involving the 3Ms (wearing face masks, keeping safe distance, and washing hands with soap), conduct the 3Ts (testing, tracing, and treatment), and establish centralized isolation centers, he said.
The government has also developed a COVID-19 tracing application called PeduliLindung (CareProtect) for screening, tracing, and health protocol implementation, he noted.
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"Indonesia ranks sixth in the world on the number of people who have been vaccinated and total injections. The daily vaccination rate is targeted at more than 2 million per day and vaccination coverage for agglomeration areas and big cities is targeted to reach 70 percent this September (2021). We do not have a shortage of vaccines," he said.
He then lauded the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) and the Indonesian Police (Polri) for their assistance in COVID-19 handling, particularly in enforcing the 3M and 3T implementation, which is crucial to break the chain of virus transmission.
Pandjaitan said he is optimistic that the success of the pandemic handling would help boost economic recovery.
"Indonesia's competitiveness, including in terms of investment, depends on our success in controlling the pandemic. The sooner we succeed in controlling the pandemic, the better the country's investment competitiveness and attractiveness will be," he added.
Related news: Indonesia's COVID-19 situation better than neighboring nations
Translator: Ade Irma J, Fardah
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
