VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has officially slammed the brakes on the relaxations that had been applied to large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) and announced their complete re-imposition to contain coronavirus spread.

They had relaxed the restrictions as part of the shift towards the transitional PSBB.

"Considering the emergency in Jakarta, there are no other choices but to put the emergency brakes. This means we have to implement the PSBB as it was at the beginning of the pandemic," he said at a press statement at the Jakarta City Hall on Wednesday evening.

His decision of reimposing the PSSB in the capital city was prompted by three indicators that had raised the concern of the Jakarta Government, including the mortality rate, availability of isolation beds and ICU facilities for COVID-19, and the rate of positive cases.

"In the past two weeks, mortality rates have spiked back up. In terms of percentage, they may still be considerably low, but in terms of the numbers, they have gone back up. The availability of beds is at maximum capacity and they may be fully filled by the end of the month, if there are no restrictions," he explained.

The re-enforcement of large-scale social restrictions will be effective from Sep. 14, 2020, although Anies is yet to confirm when it will be lifted.

It has been reported earlier that the positivity rate of COVID-19 cases in Jakarta has reached 13.2 percent, or above the safe number of under 5 percent prescribed by the World Health Organization.

Based on Jakarta's government data, active cases in Jakarta, including patients receiving treatment or undergoing isolation, have reached 11,245 as of Tuesday. Meanwhile, the total number of confirmed cases in Jakarta now stands at 49,837, with 37,245 recoveries and 1,347 deaths.

The data released by the Jakarta Health Office on Wednesday also reveals that bed availability for daily COVID-19 isolation at 67 referral hospitals is at 77 percent of the total capacity of 4,456 beds.

The figures also show that there are 1,024 daily isolation beds for COVID-19 handling that are vacant.

Meanwhile, the occupancy rate at intensive care units (ICUs) has reached 83 percent of the capacity of 482 beds, leaving only 83 ICU beds remaining in 67 referral hospitals. (Antaranews)