Not only the Indonesian nation, but other nations are also trying to revoke the pandemic status…Jakarta (ANTARA) - A decision on the COVID-19 endemic status in Indonesia from the World Health Organization (WHO) and President Joko Widodo is still awaited, Health Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril said on Tuesday.
"Not only the Indonesian nation, but other nations are also trying to revoke the pandemic status when the parameters have been very under control," he confirmed.
Two health emergency statuses are being applied in Indonesia through presidential decrees, Syahril informed.
The two decrees are Presidential Decree Number 11 of 2020 regarding the declaration of COVID-19 as a public health emergency and Presidential Decree Number 12 of 2020 regarding the declaration of the non-natural disaster of COVID-19 spread as a national disaster.
Those policies should be revoked first to move toward the endemic status, he said. So far, only the policy on public activity restrictions (PPKM) has been lifted. The policy was revoked on December 30, 2022.
Meanwhile, the global pandemic emergency status that has been in effect for the past three years is based on the WHO's authority, he added.
He noted that, based on indicators, the pandemic situation in Indonesia is still fully under control. As of February 19, 2023, the number of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases stood at 113, a decline of 14.9 percent compared to the previous day, when it was recorded at around 200.
Meanwhile, the number of daily fatalities, on average, stood at 2, a decline of 31.2 percent compared to the previous week.
Even though the number of hospitalized patients increased by around 1.5 percent, the hospital bed occupancy rate fell to 2.14 percent.
Then, the positivity rate stood at 1.2 percent, or far below the threshold of 5 percent set by the WHO.
"Thus, in total, based on these four parameters, Indonesia has been included in the Level 1 community transmission (category), as per the WHO's standards," the spokesperson said.
He added that based on the latest serosurvey, as of January 2023, 99 percent of Indonesians have developed COVID-19 antibodies.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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