COVID-19: Gov’t Continues to Increase Recovery Rate; Reduce Death Rate
Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung during 60th Anniversary of Faculty of Communication of Padjajaran University which was held online from Bogor Palace, West Java province, Friday (18/9). (Photo: Agung/PR)
The Indonesian Government has announced it is making every effort to increase COVID-19 recovery rate and reduce death rate, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung has said.
“If we look at the data from March to September, the percentage of death rate has dropped very significantly. The Government is also responsible for adding isolation areas for COVID-19 patients,” Pramono said during the commemoration of 60th Anniversary of Faculty of Communication of Padjajaran University held online from Bogor Palace, West Java province, Friday (18/9.
According to Pramono, budgets of ministries / institutions have mostly been re-allocated for COVID-19 handling, adding that the Athlete Housing in Central Jakarta has now more than 3,000 beds and are still able to accommodate new patients.
“The Government also ensures the availability of ICU beds at the referral hospitals,” he said.
The most important thing, he added, is that the Government continues to carry out testing, tracing, treatment and minimizes testing gaps.
“In Jakarta, our testing capacity has exceeded the WHO standards, while in some areas it is still below the standards,” he said.
He also explained that unlike most countries in the world, Indonesia as an archipelagic country needs special measures to handle COVID-19.
“The Government also continues to enforce public discipline in maintaining health protocols since the main problem is the public discipline,” he said.
For that reason, Pramono said that the Government has ordered the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) and the National Police personnel to uphold public discipline as those institutions are most respected by the public.
On that occasion, Pramono also pointed out that the President has given nine directives to handle the spread of COVID-19, one of which is ordering his Cabinet to always refer to the most updated data for each decision making and to use regional-scale social restrictions rather than massive lockdowns.
“Governors and regents are given the authority to formulate policies based on data. However, for social restrictions, the Central Government urged them to apply regional-scale instead of partial lockdowns like some other countries do,” Pramono explained. (TGH / EN)
Translated by: Estu Widyamurti
Reviewed by: M. Ersan Pamungkas
