On Monday (21/3), the Java-Bali Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) will end after being extended every week. Meanwhile, for outside Java-Bali, PPKM will end on March 28.
It is not yet known whether the government will continue the PPKM or not. Then, how’s Covid-19 in the last week in Indonesia?
According to government data, in the period 14-20 March, Indonesia’s Covid-19 cases reached 71,988. This number decreased by 49 percent compared to the previous week or the period 7-13 March with the addition of 141,770 Covid-19 cases.
The number of deaths due to Covid-19 has also decreased. During the period 7-13 March, the cumulative number of Covid-19 deaths was 1,994 cases.
Meanwhile, in the March 14-20 period, weekly deaths decreased to 1,572 cases or 21 percent.
Furthermore, in the past week, the positivity rate was 7.7 percent, down from the previous week’s 15 percent.
A spokesperson for the Covid-19 Vaccination of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that although the national case was on a downward trend in cases and indicators for handling Covid-19 were getting better, the public must continue to maintain this trend consistently so that the pandemic would be over soon.
“We urge the public to immediately vaccinate, both primary and booster vaccinations, to prevent a spike in cases as is currently happening in several other countries, such as Germany, France, England, Canada,” said Nadia, Monday (21/3/2022).
It is known that the spike in cases in several countries in Europe is caused by the distribution of the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant which is now the majority variant in several countries.
Although the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant has been detected in Indonesia, the spike in cases due to the Omicron sub-variant can still be controlled to this day.
Regarding the previously announced serological survey, Nadia reminded the public that although the number of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 for respondents was quite high, it did not mean that the community was free from Covid-19 infection. High antibodies mean that they can reduce the impact of severe symptoms and the risk of death from being infected with Covid-19.
“The public should be aware that even though the antibodies produced are high after getting a complete vaccination plus a booster, the possibility of being infected with Covid-19 still exists. It’s just that the risk of severe symptoms and death from Covid-19 is reduced. Especially for the elderly and those with comorbidities, they need to get protection from complete and booster vaccinations,” said Nadia.
She said the vaccination target needs to be pursued further and faster. This will accelerate the establishment of herd immunity in the Indonesian population, especially to prevent a spike in cases.
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