INDONESIA EXTENDS COVID-19 CURBS TO JULY 25 AS CASES REMAIN HIGH: PRESIDENT

INDONESIA extended its pandemic-linked restrictions to July 25 as the number of coronavirus infections remained high, aiming for a gradual easing of curbs next week if infections drop, President Joko Widodo said in a statement broadcast through the Presidential Secretariat’s Youtube channel on Tuesday night (7/20).

COVID-19 cases in Indonesia are currently among the highest in the world due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant, despite the imposition this month of the strictest restrictions on the movement of people so far during the pandemic.

“The extension of the implementation of the Emergency community activity restrictions (PPKM) until July 25 and will open it in stages starting July 26, 2021. If the trend of cases continues to decline, the government will open on July 26 2021. The government has implemented Emergency PPKM in the provinces of Java-Bali and 15 districts/cities outside Java and Bali on 3-20 July 2021,” he said

President Jokowi added the implementation of emergency PPKM which began on 3 July 2021 is a policy that we cannot avoid that the government must take, even though it is very, very difficult. Emergency PPKM is implemented to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and reduce the public’s need for treatment in hospitals.

“So that it does not cause the paralysis of hospitals due to overcapacity of COVID-19 patients and so that health services for patients with other critical illnesses are not disrupted and their lives are threatened,” the President added.

Praise be to God, the President continued, after implementing the Emergency PPKM, it can be seen from the data, the number of cases and the number of hospital beds have decreased. We always monitor, understand the dynamics in the field and also hear the voices of the affected communities from PPKM.

Based on data from the COVID-19 Task Force as of July 20, 2021, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia has reached 2,950,058 cases with the addition of 38,325 people in 24 hours. As for active cases, there were 550,192 people. The recovered patients increased by 29,791 people so that the total accumulation of those who had recovered was 2,323,666 people.

Meanwhile, those who died from exposure to COVID-19 increased by 1,280 people, bringing the total death toll from COVID-19 in Indonesia to 76,200. [antaranews/photo special]