Jakarta (ANTARA) – Vice President Ma’ruf Amin sought greater public vigil through stringent application of health protocols in the wake of the entry of the COVID-19 Delta variant and the high bed occupancy rate (BOR) at Indonesian hospitals.
Amin made the statement while opening an online mass vaccination event for the people of South Tangerang City from Jakarta, Wednesday.
“The threat of COVID-19 has, so far, not ended, and there is also a trend of increasing cases after the Eid holidays and owing to social interactions, economic activities, and the entry of the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus,” the vice president stated in Jakarta, Wednesday.
An increase in the number of cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia has also resulted in a high hospital occupancy rate for COVID-19 patients in several areas.
“We all have to be more careful and increase vigilance. In the past month, it has affected the BOR for COVID-19 patients,” he noted.
The vice president remarked that the hospital occupancy rate in South Tangerang City had reached 98 percent of the total 51 intensive care unit (ICU) rooms and 86 percent of the total 645 patient bed rooms. “There are only 93 beds left as of June 25, 2021,” he pointed out.
Hence, the vice president continues to urge the South Tangerang city government to increase the number of patient beds and health workers as a precautionary measure against an increase in the number of transmission cases.
The vice president has called on local governments to expedite vaccination of the community to order to achieve national community immunity or herd immunity at the earliest.
Endeavors to accelerate vaccination are aimed at establishing herd immunity targeted at 70 percent of the national population, or at least 181.5 million people.
“We have set a target of one million per day and plan to increase it to two million per day. In order to achieve this target, the vaccination program in the regions must be in line with the national vaccination program,” the vice president stated.
Source: Antara News