Gov’t Re-Extends Micro-Scale Restrictions to 31 May

Head of the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery (KPCPEN) Committee Airlangga Hartarto and Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi deliver a press statement after a limited meeting in Jakarta, Monday (10/5). (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Rahmat)

In a bid to further control the transmission of COVID-19, the Government has decided to re-extend the implementation of micro-scale activity restrictions (Micro PPKM) from 18 to 31 May 2021.

“The implementation of Micro PPKM Phase VIII will be extended from 18 to 31 May, covering 30 provinces. It is a two-week period after the Eid al-Fitr holidays. We will tighten the implementation of 3T [tracing, testing and treatment],” Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto who also helms the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery (KPCPEN) Committee said in a press statement after a limited meeting to address the Handling of COVID-19 on Monday (10/5), Jakarta.

Of the 30 provinces currently implementing Micro PPKM, 11 provinces experience additional daily confirmed cases. “Five provinces have experienced a sharp increase. They are the Riau Islands, Riau, South Sumatra, Aceh and West Kalimantan. The arrival of migrant workers is one of the causes,” he said.

The increasing trend of daily confirmed cases resulted in seven provinces having BOR (Bed Occupancy Ratio) of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and isolation rooms of above 50 percent. The seven provinces are North Sumatra (63.4 percent), Riau (59.1 percent), Riau Islands (59.9 percent), South Sumatra (56.6 percent), Jambi (56.2 percent), Lampung (50.8 percent), and West Kalimantan (50.6 percent).

“Meanwhile in Java, it can be seen that the average BOR is below 40 percent and this is the lowest during the Micro PPKM period,” he said, adding that the BOR at the Wisma Atlet Emergency Hospital for COVID-19 is also relatively low (21.47 percent or 1,287 beds occupied out of 5,994 beds).

In his press statement, Airlangga also stated that an increasing trend of national population mobility also happened in the last seven days, especially in North Maluku, Bengkulu, and Southeast Sulawesi.

“We observe that in this month of Ramadan, the mobility in the sectors of retail, malls, and grocery stores is high,” he said.

Meanwhile, the three provinces with low mobility are Bali, Yogyakarta, and Riau Islands. ” Riau Islands has low mobility, but because of the arrival of PMI (Indonesian Migrant Workers), there is an increase in cases,” Airlangga said. (TGH/UN) (FI/MMB)