Mayor of Pontianak, West Kalimantan Province, Edi Rusdi Kamtono appealed to Pontianak residents to exercise continued vigil despite a downward slope in terms of the number of COVID-19 cases.

“I urge the public to remain vigilant, although the number of patients at hospitals has decreased. However, the emergency condition of the COVID-19 pandemic has not been lifted, so people must apply strict health protocols in their activities,” Kamtono noted on Monday.

The Pontianak city government had made relentless efforts to suppress the spread of the virus by expediting mass vaccinations and aiming to achieve 80 percent of the target by the end of 2021.

The Pontianak Health Service noted that in terms of the vaccination achievement in Pontianak City, 64.35 percent of the populace had been administered the first vaccination (V1) dose, while 47.6 percent had received the second vaccination (V2) dose.

“In pursuing the target, we aim to vaccinate around 3,500 to four thousand people every day,” he added.

Despite the presence of several groups of people, who cannot get vaccination owing to health problems and comorbidities, Kamtono remarked that several people still refused to be vaccinated despite being in good health.

Kamtono noted that his side will continue to disseminate information to those refusing to get vaccinated to remind the public of the importance of vaccination to create herd immunity.

“Activities in Pontianak have been running normally. We are still recovering from the impact of emergency community ry (PPKM),” he stated.

However, Kamtono noted that strict restrictions were no longer applied on the people’s daily activities. He was optimistic that the relaxation in PPKM could drive the city’s economy to bounce back.

“Hence, in addition to increasing immunity, please take care of your health, so that activities for economic recovery will continue with the implementation of health protocols,” he affirmed.

Source: Antara News