To this day, I have observed that the government has been able to control the COVID-19 transmissionJakarta (ANTARA) - People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Deputy Speaker Syarief Hasan has lauded the steps taken by the government for handling and controlling COVID-19 transmission, which have led to a decline in cases in the past eight weeks.
"To this day, I have observed that the government has been able to control the COVID-19 transmission. I laud all the efforts made by the government such as implementing public activity restrictions (PPKM), vaccine accessibility, which is starting to spread throughout Indonesia, and several other supporting policies," the deputy speaker said in a statement released here on Wednesday.
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According to Hasan, this achievement has been the result of the learning process in handling the pandemic. It is essential for the government to formulate policies that are adaptive by constantly innovating and seeing problems comprehensively from the root, he added.
In addition, Hasan said, in applying policies, the government should be open to inputs or opinions from the public. He also asked the government not to be easily satisfied and remain firm.
Earlier, through the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, the government had said that positive cases of COVID-19 have been successfully suppressed in the last eight weeks to record a significant decline.
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Based on the Task Force report, daily COVID-19 cases have dropped to 1,404 per day—the lowest level in the past year. The daily COVID-19 death rate has also declined to 77 deaths, its lowest level in 2021.
The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Indonesia in March 2020. According to data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), as of October 5, 2021, at least 4,221,610 people have tested positive for COVID-19, while 4,049,449 people have recovered, and 142,338 people have succumbed to the deadly virus.
To curb COVID-19 transmission, the Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021. According to data from the Health Ministry, as of October 6, 2021, as many as 95,781,773 citizens have received the first COVID-19 vaccine dose and 54,441,979 Indonesians have been fully vaccinated.
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Translator: Imam Budilaksono, Raka Adji
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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