VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. The government will expand the implementation of micro-scale Public Activity Restrictions (PPKM) and tighten its criteria after April 5, 2021, Chief of the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Committee (KPC PEN) Airlangga Hartarto stated.

"As instructed by the president, the micro-scale PPKM will be expanded. After April 5, we will expand it to five more provinces," Hartarto remarked at the Presidential Office here on Friday.

Hartarto, simultaneously the coordinating economic affairs minister, noted that the PPKM will be implemented more aggressively, with the application of stringent criteria.

The government had earlier extended the restriction to March 23 through April 5 and expanded its implementation to five provinces: South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, and West Nusa Tenggara.

"The implementation of micro-scale PPKM from March 23 to April 5 was expanded to South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, and West Nusa Tenggara," he affirmed.

The 10 provinces of North Sumatra, Banten, West Java, Jakarta, Central Java, East Java, Yogyakarta, Bali, East Kalimantan, and South Sulawesi already enforce the PPKM.

Speaking in connection with the progress in the vaccination program, Hartarto remarked that as of March 26, some 10 million people had been administered the COVID-19 vaccine shots.

As of Friday, Indonesia had recorded 1,482,559 COVID-19 cases, with a positivity rate of 11.49 percent and the number of national active cases at 8.45 percent, far below the global active cases at 17.06 percent.

The nation’s fatality rate was recorded at 2.7 percent and recovery rate at 8.8 percent. The global fatality rate was recorded at 2.2 percent and recovery rate at 8.74 percent. (Antaranews)