Mobility restriction during the Christmas and New Year holiday period has been enforced properly through collaboration among government institutions, regional governments, and army and police officers, as well as the residents' awarenessJakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Human Development and Cultural Affairs Minister Muhadjir Effendy confirmed that the government will continue to enforce the restriction approach during the next year-end holiday period to prevent a spike in COVID-19 infections.
"Mobility restriction during the Christmas and New Year holiday period has been enforced properly through collaboration among government institutions, regional governments, and army and police officers, as well as the residents' awareness," Effendy remarked while presiding over a meeting to evaluate restrictions on the Christmas and New Year's activities in here on Monday.
The coordinating minister believes collaboration among institutions helped in successfully handling COVID-19 cases to reach a controllable level despite the fluctuating nature of the COVID-19 case spike.
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"As we comprehensively handled the COVID-19 pandemic, we also recorded proper adherence to health protocols and the vaccination rate among residents," he noted.
Effendy lauded that child vaccination drives had continued to be organised at several department stores during the Christmas and New Year's holiday period.
As mobility restrictions during the Christmas and New Year's holiday period last year had proven to be beneficial, the authority will adopt the same approach for the same period this year, he affirmed.
Regarding the emerging COVID-19 Omicron variant, the coordinating minister noted that future enforcement of restriction in activities would be based on situational trends.
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"To tackle the possible surge in COVID-19 Omicron cases, either from imported or local transmission, we need follow-up anticipatory measures, including by monitoring health protocols, using the PeduliLindungi application, as well as expediting vaccination and booster dose distribution," Effendy stated.
The coordinating minister pointed out that the national COVID-19 Task Force had issued circulars and regulations on mobility restriction and conducted COVID-19 screenings and quarantine to prevent positive cases from surging during the Christmas and New Year holiday period.
"For instance, from around 123,312 international traveller arrivals at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on January 1-15, 2022, we found 567 positive cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant among the total of 3,923 positive cases. All positive cases were isolated until their recovery," he remarked.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
