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Jakarta Post

Jakarta extends transitional PSBB amid rising COVID-19 cases, health-protocol violations

Nina A. Loasana (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, November 23, 2020

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Jakarta extends transitional PSBB amid rising COVID-19 cases, health-protocol violations Pedestrians wearing face masks, walk along a new crossing bridge in Senen, Central Jakarta, on Sunday. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)

T

he Jakarta administration announced on Sunday that it would extend the transitional period of the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) for another two weeks until Dec. 6 amid a recent surge of new COVID-19 cases and following a number mass gatherings that led to accusations of widespread violations of health protocols.

"The Jakarta administration can pull the ‘emergency brake’ if [Jakarta] sees a significant increase in new cases or a concerning transmission rate [...] On Saturday, the capital city recorded the highest single-day jump of 1,579 cases," Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said on Sunday.

He explained that based on a report from the University of Indonesia's Public Health Faculty (FKM UI) the rate of public compliance with COVID-19 health protocols had decreased significantly since the end of October.

As per Saturday, the rate of adherence to the mask-wearing policy was 65 percent, down by 10 percent compared with Oct. 19, he went on.

Meanwhile, the rate of public compliance with the physical-distancing and frequent-handwashing policies was recorded at 70 percent and 40 percent, respectively, at the end of October. However, they went down to 60 and 30 percent on Nov. 21.

"The data show that the decrease in public compliance with the health protocols is in line with the increase in new cases," Anies said.

He explained that the capital city had seen an 11.62 percent increase in new COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks after seeing a relatively declining trend in the previous weeks.

Read also: Jakarta logs highest daily COVID-19 increase on tail-end of transitional PSBB

The number of COVID-19 weekly reproduction numbers (Rt) has also increased slightly to 1.06 from 1.05.

"The rate of public compliance with the health protocols needs to reach a minimum of 80 percent so we can [effectively] suppress virus transmissions,” he said.

The governor further said that the administration would continue to work with the Regional Leadership Communication Forum [Forkopimda] to enforce the health-protocol policy to help curb transmission of the coronavirus.

Jakarta has been in the spotlight following a series of mass gatherings centered around the return of Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader and firebrand cleric Rizieq Shihab from self-exile in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 10.

On Sunday, the Health Ministry reported a surge of new cases in Petamburan, Central Jakarta, and Tebet, South Jakarta, the locations of the mass gatherings.

"We found 50 new cases in Tebet and 30 in Petamburan," The ministry's acting director of Infectious disease prevention and control, Budi Hidayat, said as reported by kompas.com.

Budi urged participants in the mass gatherings and their close contacts to carry out two-week self-isolation and to visit the nearest health facilities if they experience any COVID-19 symptoms.

Despite a spike in new cases and rampant health protocol violations, Anies claimed the COVID-19 transmission in the capital city was still under control, pointing out that the rate of active cases was declining and the recovery rate continued to increase.

Read also: New cases emerge in Jakarta in the wake of mass gatherings

"We’ve seen a declining trend in the active cases rate in Jakarta. As per Nov. 21, Jakarta recorded 6.7 percent active cases, lower than the previous two weeks of 7.2 percent. Meanwhile, the recovery rate is also improving, with the latest rate recorded at 91.3 percent. Two weeks previously, it was 78.9 percent," Anies said.

He vowed that he would impose stricter enforcement of health protocols to curb the spread of COVID-19.

"In the future, we'll enforce stricter health-protocol measures. We hope residents can also proactively report any violations. I emphasize once again that we need to remain disciplined in following the health protocols," he said.

Previously, the Visit Wonderful Indonesia (VIWI) board — an umbrella organization for 18 tourism associations — had asked Anies not to extend the transitional PSBB.

Board chairman Hariyadi B Sukamdani said given the numerous public breaches of existing health protocols, the Jakarta administration might as well revoke COVID-19 restrictions to grant tourist businesses greater freedom to recoup their losses amid the current economic downturn.

Anies said the goal of Jakarta administration was to curb the COVID-19 transmission rate and that the public should also take part in the efforts.

"We cannot just do whatever we want, we should focus on carrying out measures to control COVID-19. If the public remained disciplined in following the health protocols, the number of new cases would also decrease," he said.

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