"By applying an effective and efficient government policy, coupled with the public’s adherence to the policy, Indonesia will likely be free from the pandemic."Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government will always increase resilience and preparedness of regions in responding to the COVID-19 situation to move from a pandemic to an endemic scenario, COVID-19 Response Task Force spokesman Prof. Wiku Adisasmito stated.
"By applying an effective and efficient government policy, coupled with the public’s adherence to the policy, Indonesia will likely be free from the pandemic,” Adisasmito noted during an online press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The professor remarked that several countries had begun preparing themselves for the COVID-19 endemic. In Indonesia, the endemic strategy for COVID-19 had also been outlined.
"It is important for me to stress that the gradual opening of social and economic activities to create a COVID-19-free productive society during the endemic will not materialize if health protocols are not followed with discipline,” he emphasized.
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The government will strive to improve the implementation of health protocols at public places, such as shopping centers, bus terminals, and airports, where crowding can occur.
“The screening process, starting from temperature checks to mandatory use of face masks and capacity monitoring through applications, has been conducted,” he affirmed.
He also called on a task force command post to be set up at each public place to ensure adherence to health protocols.
"Unfortunately, task force command posts, as a means of coordination to supervise adherence to health protocols up to the level of RT/RW (neighborhood association/community group), have not been used maximally,” he pointed out.
Only 31.1 percent of the planned task force command posts across Indonesia have been set up as of September 26, 2021, he noted.
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“Moreover, the number of task force command posts in 11 provinces is still below 10 percent of the target,” he stated.
The 11 provinces are Central Kalimantan, Southeast Sulawesi, Bengkulu, Bangka Belitung Islands, North Kalimantan, South Sumatra Selatan, Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, Central Sulawesi, Papua, and North Maluku.
"In fact, they are the most vulnerable provinces in terms of their residents violating the health protocols, including wearing masks, washing hands, and keeping physical distance,” he remarked.
In addition, the performance of existing task force command posts in other provinces has declined, he noted.
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As of September 27, the existing command posts reported 771,440 activities as compared to 881,483 activities recorded on September 24.
Indonesia recorded the addition of 2,057 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the total tally to 4,211,460 since the country reported the first confirmed cases in March 2020, according to the COVID-19 Response Task Force.
The task force also reported that 124 people died of the infection on that day, thereby bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 141,709.
With 3,511 patients recovering from the infection, the number of recoveries rose to 4,031,099.
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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Suharto
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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