The government is preparing a regional quarantine regulation in the hope of curbing the spread of COVID-19. Meanwhile, regions have begun to implement limited quarantines.
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The government is preparing a regional quarantine regulation in the hope of curbing the spread of COVID-19. Meanwhile, regions have begun to implement limited quarantines.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS— The spread of COVID-19 is increasing, with more and more numbers of positive cases and fatalities reported. To resolve this, the government is preparing a regulation (PP) to implement a quarantine at COVID-19 epicenters. Meanwhile, some rural areas have already imposed quarantines.
As of Sunday (29/3/2020) at 1 p.m., the COVID-19 Mitigation Task Force reported 1,285 positive cases in Indonesia and 114 fatalities. The pandemic has spread to 30 provinces, which includes Jakarta with 675 cases, West Java (149 cases), Banten (106 cases), East Java (90 cases) and Central Java (63 cases).
The government’s spokesman for COVID-19 matters, Achmad Yurianto, said on Sunday that positive cases continued to increase as social and physical distancing policies had been ineffective.
“There are still people with the disease [persons under monitoring or ODP] going out instead of committing to self-isolation at home,” he said.
Separately, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said that Law No. 6/2018 on health quarantine stipulated several state policies in health emergency situations, such as regional and total quarantines. In order to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, the government implemented persuasive regional quarantines in the form of limiting people’s movements, especially crowds. The substantial and technical stipulations of the government regulation on regional quarantines would be discussed on Tuesday (31/3).
Mahfud said that several regional administrations had proposed to impose a local quarantine, including Jakarta. This form of quarantine means limiting people’s movements locally. Residents will be required to work and study at home so that offices and schools can be closed for a period of time. Limited activities will still be allowed at traditional markets, grocery stores and drug stores.
Regional administrations have the authority to regulate such regional quarantines.
“This is a form of proportionate division of authority between the central and local governments,” Mahfud said in an interview with Kompas TV on Sunday evening.
More serious
The regional quarantine plan is in line with the widespread call for the government to seriously implement more stringent measures. Delays in putting Greater Jakarta, the disease’s epicenter, under quarantine has resulted in COVID-19 spreading across Java. Without a strict restriction of movement, the outbreak will spread to more areas. If this continues, it is estimated that around 2.5 million Indonesians will need intensive care by mid-May.
University of Indonesia School of Public Health (FKM UI) epidemiologist Iwan Ariawan said he estimated that the number of Indonesians currently with COVID-19 was at least 10 times the official figure.
“In Indonesia, testing is severely lacking and the real number of [people with COVID-19] is surely much higher [than the official figure],” he said.
Iwan and his colleagues Pandu Riono, Muhammad N Farid and Hafizah Jusril have created a model of three scenarios. In the worst-case scenario without intervention, close to 2.5 million Indonesians will have COVID-19 and show severe symptoms by mid-May.
Pandu, an epidemiologist and biostatistician from FKM UI, said he proposed that a strict quarantine be imposed not just on a city-level but also on an island-level. People in Java, with an even distribution of COVID-19, cannot go to other islands.
“An appeal will no longer suffice,” he said.
The policy must be accompanied with mass testing to separate the healthy people from the sick. Those who have the disease and are only showing mild symptoms are urged to self-isolate. Meanwhile, those showing severe symptoms must be hospitalized.
People’s movements
Transportation Ministry land transportation directorate general Budi Setiyadi has issued a standard operational procedure to curb the spread of COVID-19 on land transportation. However, over the weekend, many Jakarta residents were still traveling back to their hometowns.
“There has been only an appeal for people not to travel to their hometown. We are still waiting for the government’s decision on whether or not there will be a strict travel ban,” Budi said.
Regarding the Jakarta Police chief’s classified circular on limiting people’s movements in and out of Jakarta, Mahfud said that it was merely a simulation.
A number of regional governments had implemented local quarantines in their own ways. Such local quarantines currently exist in Gayo Lues regency (Aceh province), Tolitoli regency (Central Sulawesi), Purwakarta regency (West Java), Tegal (Central Java) and Mataram (West Nusa Tenggara).
“To all regents and mayors in other regions, if you have not made the decision [to quarantine your region], what are you waiting for?” said Tegal Mayor Dedy Yon Supriyono.
The spokesperson of the Tolitoli regional secretariat shared Dedy’s opinion.
“We are serious in curbing the spread of COVID-19 by limiting people’s movements in and out of Tolitoli,” he said.