A Home Affairs Ministry’s official has confirmed that some regions in Indonesia had logged a higher level of activities restriction enforcement (PPKM) following the new PPKM criteria imposed under the latest ministry’s instruction.

“Apart from necessitating regional governments to pass the threshold in residents’ health and activities restriction criteria, as per the Health Ministry’s directives, we will also require regions to achieve a vaccination threshold for improvement of the PPKM status,” the ministry’s director general for regional administration development, Safrizal Z. A. said.

For PPKM in the Java and Bali Island regions, the ministry’s instruction necessitates regions to log a minimum of 50 percent of the complete vaccination coverage among members of the general populace and 40-percent vaccination among the elderly to advance, from PPKM level 3 to 2, the ministry’s official noted.

Regions must record a minimum of 70-percent complete vaccination coverage and 60 percent vaccination for the elderly to advance to PPKM level 1, he added.

The new criteria has caused a reduction in the number of regions with PPKM level 1, from 52 cities and districts to only 40, while the enforcement of PPKM level 2 is increasing, from 75 cities and districts to 86, while level 3 PPKM has been enforced in two regions, Safrizal remarked.

For PPKM outside the Java-Bali regions, the new ministry’s directive also requires a 50-percent threshold for the first vaccination coverage for the advancement of the PPKM level, he remarked.

The new criteria has also led to a reduction in the number of regions with PPKM level 1 status outside Java-Bali regions, from 238 cities and districts to 164, while the number of regions with level 2 PPKM increased, from 138 to 219, yet the PPKM level 3 was imposed only in three cities and districts, the ministry’s official added.

He highlighted that although the COVID-19 pandemic handling approaches should be consistent, actual conditions must continue to be referred to in conceiving the enforcement strategy and management.

“We need to adjust our policy with the existing issues and challenges to find the best combination that balances public health conditions with the economic interests of residents in complete prudence,” Safrizal remarked.

Earlier, Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian has extended the PPKM enforcement by issuing the Ministry’s Instruction No. 6 of 2022 for the Java-Bali regions effective for February 1-7, 2022, and Instruction No. 7 of 2022 for regions outside Java and Bali effective for February 1-14, 2022.

Source: Antara News