"There is a risk of an increase in cases, should health protocols be relaxed. People can be infected more than twice or even more. Monitoring must continue to be (conducted massively),"
Tri Yunis Miko Wahyono stated upon being contacted from here on Tuesday.
He emphasized that the relaxation of community mobility should be conducted in conjunction with education and strict supervision of health protocols, so that the current declining trend of cases continues.
Wahyono noted that health protocols could not be relaxed owing to the death rate still being relatively high.
By following health protocols with discipline, people can avoid exposure to the virus, which might lead to death, especially for people with comorbidity and/or those who had not been fully vaccinated, he remarked.
"We still have to be careful because the death toll in Indonesia (from COVID-19) is still quite high. Around 200 people die per day," he said.
Based on data from the COVID-19 Task Force, as of March 14, 2022, some 271 people succumbed to COVID-19. This brings the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic to 152,437 people.
He also noted that the positivity rate or comparison between the number of positive cases of COVID-19 and the number of tests conducted in Indonesia was still quite high, still above the World Health Organization standard of five percent.
As of March 14, 2022, the daily specimen positivity rate had reached 10.46 percent and the daily positivity rate was capped at 8.04 percent.
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"This means that the spread and transmission is still quite high," he explained.
On a separate occasion, the spokesperson for COVID-19 Vaccination at the Health Ministry, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, stated that COVID-19 control should also be supported through efforts to expedite the completion of the two-dose vaccination plus a booster.
Based on data from the Health Ministry on March 14, the vaccination rate was capped at 92.95 percent, or 193,591,293, for the second dose.
Then, the second dose of vaccination has been recorded at 72.84 percent, or 151,693,762. The booster vaccination rate was recorded at 7.07 percent, or 14,724,644.
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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
