"The capacity to examine, track, and handle COVID-19 needs to be strengthened in order to anticipate the spread of COVID-19 even though PPKM has been revoked," the ministry's deputy for health quality improvement and population development, Agus Suprapto, noted in Jakarta on Friday.
Although PPKM had been revoked, he noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had not ended, so the COVID-19 control program was still continuing.
Suprapto emphasized that increasing the capacity for examining, tracing, and handling COVID-19 was the main key to suppressing the spread of the disease.
"This aims to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19 as the concept of controlling infectious diseases has been implemented so far," he stated.
He noted that the ministry also ensured easy access for people looking to take a COVID-19 test.
"As we have said before, the more tests, the better, because the real number of cases in the community can be revealed," he remarked.
The ministry also urged the public to support the government's efforts in increasing the capacity of COVID-19 testing.
"The community can support increasing the capacity for COVID-19 testing. Those who suspect having symptoms that lead to COVID-19 are welcome to do the test independently and those, who are sick, should strictly enforce the health protocol," he emphasized.
In addition, the ministry reminded that the pandemic was not over yet, so the community should continue to strengthen health protocols as part of their personal and collective responsibility in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Personal responsibility can be fulfilled by complying with health protocols while collective responsibility entails equipping oneself with vaccinations starting from the first dose to booster doses to create herd immunity, Suprapto stated.
Meanwhile, spokesperson of the Health Ministry, Mohammad Syahril, reminded the public that the COVID-19 emergency status in Indonesia is still valid on account of the fact that the government still requires several special considerations to revoke the status.
The considerations include ensuring the ability to control the situation and waiting for the revocation of the global pandemic status by the World Health Organization (WHO).
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Translator: Wuryanti Puspitasari, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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