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Government still awaiting Health Ministry's COVID-19 advice
The Health Ministry is working with other state institutions to issue a recommendation to the President on the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, according to a ministry spokesman, who also urged the public to remain vigilant even after the public health emergency was revoked.
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Boosting boosters: Medical workers administer COVID-19 vaccine booster doses at a mass vaccination drive at the Jakarta International Expo center in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, on Jan. 25, 2022. (Antara/Galih Pradipta)
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lthough the World Health Organization declared last Friday that COVID-19 was no longer a global health emergency, the government is still waiting for additional recommendations from the Health Ministry to declare an end to Indonesia’s public health emergency for the coronavirus pandemic.
“With the WHO having ended the [global health emergency] status, there are many questions now on when Indonesia will follow suit,” Health Ministry spokesman Mohamad Syahril said on Tuesday.
“But the Health Ministry is still coordinating with other ministries to make a recommendation for the President” on to lift the government’s COVID-19 public health emergency, he added.
Syahril said the ministry’s recommendation would map out Indonesia’s readiness to manage COVID-19 as an endemic disease as well as future pandemics based on the guidelines provided by the WHO.
The global health body has advised countries to consider 10 aspects in devising their post-pandemic strategies, including financing schemes, maintaining or improving laboratories’ diagnostic capacity, new health rules for points of entry and continuing vaccination and research.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry’s recommendation would also include an overview of the COVID-19 situation in Indonesia and related and indicators “since the revocation of the public activity restrictions [PPKM] system until today, including the daily caseload, deaths, [and] vaccination rates, while also ensuring the readiness of labs for future surveillance and [the readiness of] hospitals”, Syahril said.
The government fully lifted the PPKM on Dec. 30, 2022 after it started gradually easing restrictions the months prior.
