It means that as a country, we have actually entered (the endemic state) -- the pandemic has turned into an endemic – and it has been at the Level 1 (of the WHO criteria).
Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stated that the coordinating ministries and the health ministry would have completed a study regarding the possibility of halting the implementation of Community Activities Restrictions (PPKM) this week.

"Prior, I have given (the related ministries) a target to hand over the studies and calculations to me this week, so that I can prepare the presidential decree on the termination of the PSBB (Large-Scale Social Restrictions)-PPKM," he stated at the Merdeka Palace here on Wednesday.

On the same occasion, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto noted that over the past year, Indonesia had experienced a declining trend of COVID-19 transmission.

It indicated that for 12 months, the development of the COVID-19 situation in Indonesia had been at the Level 1 criteria set by the World Health Organization (WHO), he stated.

"It means that as a country, we have actually entered (the endemic state) -- the pandemic has turned into an endemic -- and it has been at the Level 1 (of the WHO criteria)," he remarked.

The coordinating minister also noted that currently, the addition of the daily confirmed COVID-19 cases had also decreased significantly to less than two thousand per day.

Nonetheless, regarding the termination of the PPKM implementation, the Health Ministry would make several preparations first, he noted.

"Among others, (the preparations include the implementation of) the serology survey, but yes, God willing, this (the PPKM termination) can be conducted (soon)," he remarked.

Earlier, President Jokowi stated at the 2023 Indonesia Economic Outlook here on Wednesday that the government would possibly declare the discontinuation of the implementation of PPKM at the end of 2022.

"Yesterday, (Tuesday, December 20, 2022), our (additional) daily cases were at around 1,200, and maybe, at the end of the year, we will end our PSBB and PPKM," he remarked.

He noted that according to the latest data, the decreasing trend of daily additional COVID-19 cases had still continued.

The number of additional cases on December 20, 2022, showed a drastic fall as compared to the peak period of the COVID-19 case surge due to the Omicron variant that reached 64 thousand cases.

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Translator: Indra Pribadi, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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