"Regional governments should bolster education on COVID-19 vaccination once more to expedite the expansion of COVID-19 vaccination coverage in regions," expert team coordinator and government spokesperson for COVID-19 handling, Wiku Adisasmito, said.
During a virtual press conference on COVID-19 handling development in Indonesia on Friday, he noted that intensive communication and education on the importance of vaccination can improve people's willingness to get vaccinated.
This is important especially since the vaccination coverage for the second and third doses still needs to be expanded, he said.
Regional governments must also identify the problems that they are facing in expanding the second and third dose vaccination coverage and report them to the central government, Adisasmito added.
It is important for regional governments to detect COVID-19 cases as early as possible to prevent the spread of infections and manage the severity of symptoms.
The task force also asked regional governments to actively strengthen surveillance to support COVID-19 handling.
"It is very important to actively bolster surveillance in which surveillance officers can actively search for data and information on residential areas and trace the close contacts of positive patients," Adisasmito explained.
This would allow more positive cases to be identified and COVID-19 infections to be handled promptly.
"We believe in the spirit of mutual assistance that becomes the culture of Indonesians. We can avoid and anticipate the rise in cases as best as possible," he remarked.
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Translator: Wuryanti P, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Sri Haryati
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