VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Micro-scale public activity restrictions (PPKM Mikro) and lockdown measures are essentially the same and not contradictory, President Joko Widodo has said.  

He said he believes that both PPKM Mikro and lockdowns restrict public activities to stem the spread of COVID-19.

"I would like to convey the message that both PPKM Mikro and lockdown measures carry the same essence, and that is to restrict the people's activities; therefore, there is no need to contradict one against the other," he said from the Presidential Palace in Bogor on Wednesday.

He further said that once PPKM Mikro is implemented and followed accordingly, then the COVID-19 infection rate would come under control. However, at the moment, PPKM Mikro has yet to be implemented fully and is still sporadically enforced in a number of places, he noted.

"For that reason, I ask all governors, district heads, and mayors to strengthen their commitment to implement the PPKM Mikro more strictly, optimizing COVID-19 posts that have been established in each of their respective areas," he said.

The government has studied several options for handling COVID-19, while taking the economic, social, and political conditions of the country into account, as well as the experience of other countries, he added.

The PPKM Mikro policy, he said, is still the most appropriate one for the fight against COVID-19 as it can be carried out without diminishing economic activity.

To contain the spread of infections, the Indonesian government has extended the implementation of PPKM Mikro from June 22 to July 5, 2021 in 34 provinces in the country.

Based on data from the COVID-19 Task Force, Indonesia added 13,668 infections as of June 22, 2021, bringing the total tally to 2,018,113 cases. The number of recoveries increased by 8,375 to reach 1,810,136 and fatalities rose by 335 to touch 55,291.

Meanwhile, the number of Indonesians who have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose increased by 524,111 to reach 23,789,884, while the number of fully vaccinated people climbed by 194,531 to 12,514,917 as of 12 p.m. on June 22, 2021.  (Antaranews)