"At least this week, there are only five provinces with increasing cases, while the other provinces are already showing a downward trend," she noted during an online seminar on Saturday.
Tarmizi remarked that the five provinces still showing an increase in cases were from outside the Java and Bali regions, specifically North Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo, and Aceh. Meanwhile, other provinces have shown a downward trend, especially the Java and Bali regions.
In addition to the downward trend in positive cases of COVID-19, the positivity rate and bed occupancy rate (BOR) had decreased, she pointed out.
“The transmission rate, or what we call the reproduction number, has started to decline. Even if we look at the number, nationally, it is still above one," Tarmizi remarked.
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Regarding the reproduction number, the government is targeting the figure to continue to be below one. Hopefully, it can be maintained for up to six months in order to ensure that transmission is at a very low level.
Tarmizi noted that a reproduction number of below one was already recorded in several regions in Java-Bali. Nevertheless, the decline still had to be monitored further.
She emphasized that the government will not dissolve efforts in these controlled conditions and would continue to work towards suppressing the number of active and positive cases in the community.
“Our target is to reduce cases as low as possible. We used to only have 200 to 250 cases per day, with a death rate of less than 20. Moreover, our positivity rate at that time was 0.1 percent. This is what we want to achieve," she said.
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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma S, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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