"Remember, there are still benefits of it (the application)," head of the communication and public services bureau of the ministry, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said at the “Closing of Indonesia COVID-19 Surge Response (ICSR)” event, which was followed online on Thursday.
According to her, PeduliLindungi can still help COVID-19 patients conducting self-isolation to access telemedicine services.
Based on data from the ministry's telemedicine services, from January 17 to December 31, 2022, the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients reached 1,823,209. Of the number, 1,628,354 received a notification from the ministry via WhatsApp.
Then, out of the 1,823,209 patients, 576,978 used telemedicine services and 542,840 received a medical prescription through them. Of the 542,840 people, as many as 542,025 received a medicine package from the ministry.
The telemedicine services also covered 14 large regions in Indonesia and cooperated with around 17 health platforms. Starting from November 2022, patients have been able to choose whether they want medicine packages to be delivered to their location or picked up by a family member or an online-based taxi bike.
Apart from telemedicine services, data on COVID-19 vaccinations is also still being provided on PeduliLindungi, she added.
Tarmizi stressed that even though the government has revoked the PPKM policy and is currently focusing on the pandemic-to-endemic transition, it is continuing to monitor the development of the indicators of the COVID-19 situation, such as hospital bed occupancy rate (BOR), virus reproduction (Rt), and death toll.
The ministry assured that all efforts for testing, tracing, and treatment (3T), vaccination, and health protocols remain a part of the government's strategy for facing the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government is also continuing to strengthen genomic surveillance through laboratories to determine the characteristics of each COVID-19 sub-variant and protect people from infection.
"We have also expanded from 16 laboratories to 41 laboratories. It means we continue to monitor the potential for other new sub-variants," she remarked.
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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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