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COVID-19: Bekasi to conduct PCR tests on individuals passing through city’s borders
Bekasi has continued to record more COVID-19 cases in the past few weeks, prompting the administration to further extend restrictions.
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Health officials conduct COVID-19 rapid testing in Kayuringin subdistrict, South Bekasi, West Java, on May 2. The testing is conducted on the side of the road to curb COVID-19's spread among people still going about activities in public places. (Antara/Fakhri Hermansyah)
T
he Bekasi administration in West Java is set to conduct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing starting Tuesday on residents passing the city’s borders amid the implementation of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB).
“Swab testing will be carried out by the Bekasi Health Agency and a team from Chasbullah Abdulmajid General Hospital on residents going in and out of the city to stem the spread of COVID-19,” Bekasi Mayor Rahmat Effendi said in a statement on Monday.
He added that the administration had prepared 50 PCR test kits at six of the city’s entry points. Meanwhile, the border at Sumber Arta on Jl. Malang – considered the city’s main entry point – had been equipped with 100 test kits, the mayor went on to say.
He expected everyone entering the city to undertake swab tests for early COVID-19 detection. People crossing the city’s borders would be asked to stop so officials could take their swab samples and record their data according to their ID card.
Read also: West Java plans to operate 24-hour checkpoints to enforce 'mudik' ban
The acquired samples would be immediately taken to the Bekasi Health Agency’s laboratory for further testing.
Rahmat claimed the administration had launched the testing because many people had failed to comply with the PSBB implementation in the city. “We will coordinate further with the local police and military to enforce the restrictions on the ground.”
West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil had extended PSBB in Jakarta’s satellite cities and regencies, including Bekasi, for two weeks to further flatten the region’s COVID-19 infection curve.
Ridwan claimed the infection rate in the areas, specifically in Bogor and Depok, had decreased by 38.5 percent since the restrictions were first imposed on April 15.
However, he said Bekasi had continued to record more COVID-19 cases in the past few weeks, prompting the administration to further extend the restrictions.
