Epidemiologist: Stop Transitional PSBB if COVID-19 Cases Surge

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - University of Indonesia epidemiologist Tri Yunis Miko Wahyono suggested Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan take the courageous decision to stop the transitional PSBB protocol if the spread of COVID-19 does not show any improvements. 

Wahyono made it clear that the governor must be able to “hit the brakes” just as he promised once the positive rate reaches 10 percent. 

“What I see now is that it has reached 6 percent. If it goes to 10 percent it’s better to return to the [previous] restrictions and close shopping malls and offices again,” said Wahyono on Tuesday, July 7. 

Previously, Baswedan said that the government will impose, what he calls an “emergency brake policy” if the COVID-19 infection surges during the transitional PSBB towards the new normal. 

“If conditions get increasingly worrying, everything will be stopped,” said Anies Baswedan in an online press conference on Thursday, June 4. 

Wahyono mentioned Jakarta’s recent new daily cases that have crossed the 200 cases barrier during the transitional PSBB. This is what constitutes the 6 percent positive case ratio of people that were tested.

Read also: Transitional PSBB; Jakarta COVID-19 Daily Cases Exceed 200

IMAM HAMDI