The minister, who is also deputy chair of the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Committee (KPC-PEN), said the aim is to boost vaccinations.
"The government has modified the PPKM Level 1 and 2 criteria by switching the vaccination indicator standard from the first vaccination dose to complete vaccination for PPKM status advancement. The rationale behind the modification is to encourage governments in cities and districts that are lagging in administering the second vaccine dose to expedite vaccinations," Pandjaitan said at an online press conference on PPKM, accessed from Jakarta on Monday.
The new criteria, which will be enforced this week, will allow a two-week transition period to allow cities and districts to meet the new criteria before the new indicators are imposed, he informed.
The coordinating minister informed that at present, the government has recorded 22 cities and districts where the second vaccination coverage is below 50 percent and 29 cities and districts where the vaccination coverage among the elderly is below 40 percent.
The new assessment criteria will be enacted through a Home Affairs Minister Instruction that will be issued today, he added.
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Apart from monitoring the vaccination level, the government will also establish a new handling approach that will focus on reducing hospitalization and mortality rates instead of suppressing the infection rate, the handling committee deputy chief said.
"The government will also modify the PPKM level strategy by emphasizing the hospitalization rate in determining PPKM level in regions while continuing to adhere to WHO's six indicators criteria," Pandjaitan noted.
The new approach is expected to encourage regional authorities to recommend self-isolation instead of allowing hospitalizations of COVID-19 positive residents who show no symptoms or have only mild symptoms, he said.
"These measures are also consistent with our effort in the economic recovery sector to continue ensuring our healthcare capacity remains within the safe threshold," the coordinating minister explained. (
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Translator: Ade Irma Junida, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
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