Stay Vigilant Despite Drop in COVID-19 Cases, President Jokowi Says
President Joko Widodo
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ordered regional leaders to stay vigilant although COVID-19 situation in Indonesia has improved.
“[We are] in a good situation. However, let me remind you that this pandemic is not over yet,” the President said in his directives to regional heads across Indonesia, Monday (25/10), delivered through video conference from the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta.
The President said that a number of indicators, namely bed occupancy ratio (BOR), positivity rate, and effective reproduction rate (Rt) have improved and had been lower than the limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The development of daily cases had also dropped significantly compared to cases at the peak of transmission period which had reached 56,000 positive cases. In the last four days, daily cases were relatively low, namely 760 cases on October 22, 802 cases on October 23, 623 cases on October 24, and 460 cases on October 25.
Nevertheless, the President said that the global positive cases have increased by around two percent this week. In Europe alone, for example, the positive cases increased by 23 percent while in South America it rose by 13 percent.
“This will be a wake-up call for us to stay vigilant because the world is still facing uncertainty. Once again, there was an upward trend in global [COVID-19] cases,” he added.
The President said that the upward trend was triggered by three problems. First, the relaxation of activity restrictions has been carried out too swiftly. Second, the discipline in observing health protocols is not maintained. Third, in-person learning has been resumed at schools.
According to the President, health protocols in schools must be implemented in a strict manner, especially in a number of areas such as canteens and parking lots. The President also ordered regional leaders and regional leadership coordination forum (Forkopimda) to remind schools to observe health protocols.
The President also underscored that a high-quality education must continue to be provided for Indonesian children.
“I hope that in-person learning will continue to be encouraged, but we need to accelerate vaccination drive for our children and students. We must provide a high-quality education for our students,” the President remarked. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat/UN) (RI/MUR)
