Preventing COVID-19 Cases Increasing Further, City Extends Transitional PSBB Phase 1

Jakarta Government officially extends the transition period of PSBB Phase 1 until the next two weeks. According to Jakarta Governor, Anies Baswedan, this decision was taken based on various cross-sectoral inputs, data and analysis.

For this reason, Jakarta Task Force has decided to extend the Phase 1 period until the next two weeks

First, he conveyed that Jakarta had an accurate data because number of test carried out by Jakarta Government continued to increase. WHO recommends to test 10,000 people in every 1 million people per week. In the past week, Jakarta has carried out 3.6 times from WHO's recommendation.

"From 6 weeks ago in a row, we carried out tests for 1991 people per million population, 2,554 people per million, 2,920 people per million, 3,194 people per million, and last week was 3,610 people per million," he informed in online press statement on Thursday (7/16), as quoted from Jakarta PPID Press Release.

Commission A: Transitional PSBB in Jakarta Goes Well

Meanwhile, PCR test result in the last 5 weeks, Jakarta showed positivity rate under 5 percent which categorized as the ideal category according to WHO which is under 5 percent. But in the 6th week or last week, the positivity rate in Jakarta increased by 5.9 percent. This condition, he assessed, should be watched out although the figure is still below the national average.

"For the first five weeks of transitional PSBB period, the weekly positivity rate in Jakarta was 4.4, 3.1, 3.7, 3.9, and 4.8 percent. Always under 5 percent. But last week, we rose a little above 5 percent. Although, it is still below the national average which around 5 percent. But the rate increased and passed the WHO recommendation," he explained.

He also presented data about number of health facilities which are the last defense against COVID-19. It stated that currently Jakarta has 4,556 COVID-19 isolation beds and 659 ICU special for COVID-19 cases that are still sufficient to handle COVID-19 cases in Jakarta.

In the past week, there was an increase in Bed Occupancy Rate (BOR) from 34 to 35 percent at COVID-19 Referral Hospitals in Jakarta. This figure is still below half of the capacity used, but increased by 11 percent in the past week. While for Bed Occupancy Rate for ICU decreased from 31 percent to 25 percent in the past week.

"It means, even though the number of patients with sever symptoms decreased, but there is an increase in the number of patients with mild and moderate symptoms due to the aggressiveness of Health Agency in conducting active case finding in the community then carrying out isolation and treatment," he continued.

Next, Reproduction Number Time (Rt) in Jakarta also increased from below 1 up to 1.5 as of July 12. Rt 1 means 1 positive person transmits to 1 other person. Besides, Rt 1 also means that the plague spread is constant. If the Rt is above 1 it means the faster the plague spreads and vice versa.

"Based on these data, it appears that it is still too risky if we loosen Transitional PSB Phase 1 and move to Phase 2. For this reason, Jakarta Task Force has decided to extend the Phase 1 period until the next two weeks. We can't move on yet to Phase 2," he asserted.

In order to continue suppressing various epidemiological indicators of COVID-19, he reminded citizens to be serious in implementing health protocols. Moreover, 66% of positive cases are people without symptoms thus principles for not leaving house if not necessary, operating in half capacity for all places, always wearing mask when forced to do activities outside, often washing hands with soap, and maintaining safe distance of 1-2 meters should be kept in mind and applied by all citizens.

"I remind all citizens to be disciplined in implementing health protocols wherever we are. Keep reminding each other if there are people around us who don't implement health protocols properly. Maybe we are tired or bored, but we are dealing with enemy who is never tried. We have to stay motivated, encourage the others in facing this Transitional PSBB period," he explained.