The COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Sleman district in the Special Region of Yogyakarta province has crossed 80 percent, meeting the requirement for herd immunity, the district’s Health Service has informed.

“Sleman district had exceeded the vaccination target of more than 80 percent coverage. We were able to form herd immunity. The problem is the mobility of people from outside our region. We do not know about their health condition,” head of Sleman district’s Health Service, Cahya Purnama, said on Wednesday.

The Sleman district government has asked the COVID-19 task force to patrol border areas to monitor the mobility of people entering Sleman, he informed.

“As for tourism buses, our officers will run an inspection at the border. If we find a passenger who has not been vaccinated or the bus capacity exceeds 75 percent, we will ask the bus to turn around,” Purnama added.

He also informed that the Sleman government has prepared an isolation site to control the spread of COVID-19.

Purnama then urged public facilities that have been reopened, including tourist attractions and shopping centers, to be more stringent in screening visitors.

“If there are visitors who are detected in the black or red categories, they should not be allowed to turn back. They must be directed to health facilities so they have no potential to transmit COVID-19,” he said.

He also asked the managers of tourist attractions and shopping centers to coordinate with the local COVID-19 handling task force at the village or sub-district level.

According to the Sleman Health Service, COVID-19 vaccinations in the region had reached the target, which was in the range of 80 percent, as of the last week of October 2021.

“The vaccination coverage in Sleman for the first dose has reached 85.5 percent, while the second dose is 65.5 percent and the third dose for health workers has reached 104.8 percent. Also, the elderly vaccination (rate) has reached 70.3 percent,” Purnama informed.

Source: Antara News