Asmat Locked Down for 28 days

KOMPAS/BUDIMAN TANUREDJO

Port in Agats City, Asmat, Papua.

JAYAPURA, KOMPAS — Asmat Regency is on lockdown for 28 days after the discovery of Covid-19 cases. Eight people in Agats district, the capital of Asmat, tested positive on Saturday.

Acting Regent Asmat Triwarno Purnomo when contacted on Sunday (18/10/2020) said the administration only allowed ships carrying staple goods to enter Asmat. The ships of state-shipping company Pelni were prohibited from entering the Port of Agats and air transportation activities were only for emergency purposes.

Apart from that, he added, the administration also limited economic activities from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. of the Eastern Indonesian Time. Previously, trader activities were allowed until 9 p.m.

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"We also stopped student learning activities, activities in places of worship and limited office activities to 2 p.m. Only five people are allowed in each office," said Triwarno.

Based on data compiled by Kompas from the Asmat Regency Covid-19 Mitigating Task Force Team, the eight positive people are now undergoing independent isolation at their homes because they only had mild symptoms. Moreover, they are considered capable of carrying out quarantine at home.

As has been known, in early February 2018 there was an extraordinary incident of measles in Asmat. A total of 670 children were infected by the measles outbreak and 80 of them died.

Also read: Health Disaster in Asmat, Papua

HUMAS PEMKAB ASMAT

Acting Regent Asmat Triwarno Purnomo.

Chief Executive of the Papua Province Covid-19 Control, Prevention and Mitigation Task Force, Welliam Manderi, said that the Papua Provincial Government would issue a circular instructing the improvement of health protocols at the entrances to regencies and cities in Papua.

He admitted that the daily number of residents who were tested positive for Covid-19 was higher than those who recovered in the past month. The reproductive rate (Ro) of Covid-19 on 31 August 2020 reached 1.5 percent. Meanwhile, the Ro rate this week has increased to 2.9 percent.

The positive ratio of Covid-19 in Papua reached 12.07 percent as of last week. This figure has not reached the ideal standard ratio set by the World Health Organization or WHO, namely 5 percent.

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From the data of the Papua Province Covid-19 Control, Prevention and Mitigation Task Force, Saturday (17/10/2020) the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases reached 8,570 people, consisting of 3,436 people being treated, 4,938 people who have recovered, and 196 people who died.

"We will do our best to remind all regional governments in 28 regencies and one city in Papua not to be negligent in their efforts to deal with Covid-19. The goal is to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Papua from getting out of control," said Welliam.