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Experts urge prudence in govt plan to end COVID-19 emergency status
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Customers shop at a supermarket in Tangerang, Banten, on May 29, 2020, while practicing physical distancing, wearing masks and using plastic screens amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (AFP/Fajrin Raharjo)
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s the government casts its sights on declaring an end to Indonesia’s COVID-19 public health emergency, experts are calling on authorities develop a robust plan to manage any lingering threats from the virus.
Following the World Health Organization’s declaration on Friday that COVID-19 was no longer a global health emergency, the Health Ministry, with the assistance of some other ministries, began working on a recommendation for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to follow suit and lift the national emergency in the near future, Health Ministry spokesman Mohamad Syahril said on Tuesday.
He said the ministry’s recommendation would outline a plan to treat COVID-19 as an endemic illness and to manage future pandemics based on guidelines from the WHO.
Some health experts urged the government to proceed with caution, fearing that the public might end up completely disregarding the threat of COVID-19.
Read also: Government still awaiting Health Ministry's COVID-19 advice
“COVID-19 has made people realize just how important it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It would be a shame if people stopped doing that just because a status was lifted,” public health expert Tjandra Yoga Aditama said on Wednesday.
“Even though the WHO has declared that COVID-19 is no longer a PHEIC [public health emergency of international concern], the virus is still here. There will still be patients and deaths,” he added. “So programs to control COVID-19 need to exist.”
