"We have to be blunt; it’s not effective,” the President said.
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has expressed dismay over what he considers the lackluster enforcement of public activity restrictions (PPKM) intended to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Java and Bali over the past month and has urged all stakeholders to redouble their efforts to contain the virus.
The President expressed his concerns during a meeting with state officials on Friday, criticizing the authorities’ apparent lack of seriousness and consistency in imposing PPKM.
“Regarding PPKM, […] we have to be blunt; it’s not effective,” he said in a video of the meeting uploaded to the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel on Sunday.
“Mobility is still high, according to the mobility index. Therefore, several provinces have continued to report rising COVID-19 numbers.”
The President’s statement stands in stark contrast to his earlier assertion that the government had the situation under control – made not long after the imposition of the first round of PPKM, which lasted from Jan. 11 to 25.
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The government has since extended the restrictions in parts of Java and Bali for two weeks, from Jan. 26 to Feb. 8, in response to persistent increases in COVID-19 cases, which recently surpassed 1 million in the country.
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