Speaking at a forum to discuss the nation’s economic outlook in 2023, Jokowi said it was possible that all COVID-19 public mobility restrictions would be called off in light of the persistently low caseload.

“Yesterday, our daily caseload stood at just 1,200. So at the end of the year, we might declare an end to our PSBB and PPKM [regimes],” Jokowi said to roaring applause.

The PSBB refers to large-scale social restrictions, whereas the PPKM refers to the tiered public mobility curb system used to contain the spread of the virus. Both policies were critical in the government’s pandemic response.

The PSBB were first imposed in several provinces in April 2020, a month after the first case was recorded, as a compromise to growing calls for a stringent lockdown. The system was reworked into the emergency PPKM scheme in July 2021, when the Delta variant-fueled second wave of infections swept the country. It was replaced by the current four-level PPKM system in place until Jan. 9.

“When Delta arrived, our daily caseload reached 56,000. At the time I remember that some 80 percent of ministers advised me to lock the country down. The public also called for the same thing,” Jokowi said.

“But it would have been a completely different story today if we had done it back then,” he added.

Indonesia has been praised for its measured response that has also managed to keep its economy afloat.

Forthcoming policy

Separately, Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto said the plan to end the PPKM was based on the observation that COVID-19 had become endemic.

“For almost a year Indonesia’s [caseload] has remained low. Based on World Health Organization criteria, [the country’s risk assessment status] is at Level One. Nationally, that means [COVID-19] has become endemic,” Airlangga said at the Presidential Palace.

He acknowledged that the Health Ministry was currently working on a serology survey, which would also be used as the basis for future mitigation policies, but that an end to mobility restrictions could still be achieved regardless.

Earlier this month, the Health Ministry said the nation’s third serology survey since the pandemic started would commence in January.

Read also: Future pandemic policies to be based on serology survey results

The President later said that he was waiting for a full report in the coming weeks before he issued a decree to halt the PPKM-PSBB policy.

Patience necessary

Jokowi’s announcement came as the daily caseload steadily hovered around the 1,000 mark for the past week. Authorities reported 1,123 new cases on Wednesday.

But experts warn that this relative stability is not a certain indicator that COVID-19 is no longer a threat, calling on the government to wait until at least after the New Year’s break before calling an end to the PPKM regime.

“[The low daily caseload] might be due to our poor tracing and testing; they should wait until the situation is under control following the year-end holidays,” epidemiologist Dicky Budiman said on Wednesday.

Read also: Govt to maintain relaxed COVID-19 curbs for holiday season

Dicky also urged the government to improve COVID-19 vaccine coverage first, particularly the booster dose, to ensure that public immunity remains high by the time curbs are lifted.

Ministry data on Wednesday showed that only 29 percent of the target population had received a third dose of the vaccine.

Meanwhile, public health expert Tjandra Yoga Aditama said that while the country’s improving situation warranted talk of ending the PPKM system, now was not the right time to do so.