VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

To prevent the spread of the Covid-19  virus and track people's mobility during the pandemic, the Indonesian government requires vaccination for the majority of citizens. Therefore, during the Implementation of Community Activity Restrictions,  the government has implemented the use of the PeduliLindung application on mobile phones. In today's digital era, this method is considered practical as it proves that a person has been vaccinated against Covid-19. PeduliLindung is an application developed to assist relevant government agencies in tracking to stop the spread of Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19).

Unfortunately, not a few citizens have difficulty downloading the PeduliLindung application for various reasons. For example, the memory on one’s device is already full, or he/she does not have a smartphone. Some  even admit that they have difficulty downloading the PeduliLindung application because they don't know how to do it.

To solve problems in the community, the Government, in this case the Ministry of Health, then improved the mechanism related to regulations regarding the use of the PeduliLindung application, especially when traveling by public transportation.

A press release from the Ministry of Health stated that starting in October 2021, a number of options were given to indicate a person's vaccination status. A person who does not have a smartphone and will travel by air or by train, does not need to download the PeduliLindung application. It’s enough with the vaccine certificate and the results of the PCR and antigen swab tests; his or her  presence related to the spread of Covid-19 can still be identified through the NIK (Population Identification Number) when buying tickets.

The Ministry of Health promised the readiness to apply the regulation at airports through data integration with airline tickets. It’s likewise with the validation of test results and vaccine certificates on train tickets.

This effort should be appreciated, because it is known that many citizens have complained about the use of the application. Not all Indonesians have smartphones and understand how to use this application. Moreover, it is common for this application to have problems when accessed by thousands, even millions of citizens at the same time.

Based on data from the Ministry of Health, in early July 2021, the number of PeduliLindung application users was still below 1 million people. Now, this application has been accessed by approximately 9 million people with 48 million downloads and about 55 million monthly users.

The Ministry of Health will also make the PeduliLindungi features accessible on other applications by coordinating with various digital platforms. Through that way, people don't have to use PeduliLindung exclusively  but they can take advantage of its features through applications on other digital platforms.

Hopefully, the integration of the PeduliLindung application that is connected to test results, close contact tracing results, telemedicine access for free drug services, as well as being integrated with the quarantine system, can run smoothly.