Year-ender: COVID-19 under control, Indonesia gears up for relaxation by Fardah

Jakarta, Dec 26, 2022 (Antara) - Indonesia has relatively managed to control COVID-19 infections during 2022, despite early this year, facing the third wave triggered by the Omicron variant that is more benign than previous strains, such as Alpha and Delta.

Schools, offices, worshipping, meetings, and other activities have run normally, as the restriction status has been lowered to level 1, but people have been advised to apply necessary health protocols.

Last May, over 200 million Indonesians celebrated Eid al-Fitr in full swing following the government’s decision to relax COVID-19 restrictions, given the significant drop in the number of infections.

As the host of the G20 presidency in 2022, Indonesia had organized some 150 hybrid meetings, including working group meetings, ministerial meetings, G20 Summit, and side events, without any problem.

The extravagant wedding procession of President Joko Widodo’s youngest son, Kaesang, in early December 2022, which was attended by thousands of invitees, confirmed Indonesia’s confidence that the nation could put COVID-19 under control.

This December, Indonesia’s Christians celebrated Christmas merrily since there were hardly public activity restrictions and no limit on mobility of people during the year-end holidays. However, despite no restrictions, the authorities urged the community to continue to comply with health protocols.

"Unlike the previous two years (2020 and 2021), we can welcome this year's Christmas celebration with more joy. Currently, we can return to our respective hometowns to attend the Christmas worship at churches and gather with our relatives," Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who celebrated Christmas, said in a video message.

The high coverage of vaccination seemingly has boosted Indonesia’s confidence in controlling the spread of COVID-19. Overall, the government is targeting to vaccinate as many as 234,666,020 citizens against COVID-19.

Indonesia announced its COVID-19 cases in March 2020 and launched its vaccination drive in January 2021.

As of Dec 23, 2022, the number of people receiving the third or first booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has reached 68,201,141, the COVID-19 Task Force reported.

The number of first dose recipients climbed to 203,952,641, while the number of second dose or complete dose recipients rose to 174,666,157.

The coverage of the fourth or second booster dose, which is prioritized for healthcare workers and the elderly, reached 1,130,087.

In addition to using imported COVID-19 vaccines, this year, Indonesia has succeeded in developing domestic-made COVID-19 vaccines: the Indovac vaccine produced by PT Bio Farma and the Inavac vaccine developed by PT Biotis and Airlangga University.

Despite the fact that the pandemic situation is under control, the trend of increasing positive cases should be monitored, as Indonesia recorded the addition of 923 positive cases on Dec 23, taking the total tally to 6,714,802. The most number of confirmed cases were reported from Jakarta, reaching 280; West Java, 265; East Java, 84; Banten, 61; and Central Java, 56.

Some 19 more deaths due to COVID-19 were reported on Dec 23, thereby bringing the death toll to 160,507.

Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Professor Wiku Adisasmito is upbeat that the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia is under control, marked by community activities being carried out as usual or the same as before the pandemic.

The average daily recovery rate has been maintained at 96 percent throughout 2022, and in the past two months, it has remained at 97 percent.

Although several indicators are currently starting to improve, vigilance against the risk of COVID-19 transmission will have to be observed, as the global pandemic situation has not been fully brought under control.

Five countries -- Japan, South Korea, Australia, Germany, and China -- are experiencing an increase in weekly cases lately.

Hence, Indonesians are advised to continue to wear masks and wash their hands with water or hand sanitizer, he stated.

He also revealed the government's plan to lift public activity restrictions (PPKM) against the spread of COVID-19.

Policy adjustments are made while still improving health protocols, vaccination, surveillance, and public communication to keep herd immunity high, he stated.

However, on Dec 26, President Widodo told the press that the issuance of a Presidential Decree on ending the implementation of PPKM awaits studies related to the level of public immunity against viruses or sero surveys.

If the sero survey outcome is above 90 percent, then the increase in COVID-19 cases in other countries should not be a problem for Indonesia, as the people's immunity is already good, he noted.

President Widodo said that currently, the number of daily confirmed cases has fallen below one thousand, but this reduction must still be ensured whether this is caused by improved public immunity or other factors.

"We must study it first. Therefore, we will wait for the review from the Health Ministry, experts, and epidemiologists to make a correct decision later," he remarked.

The government hopes that it would lift restrictions at the end of this year or early next year if the COVID-19 situation remains under control as expected.