VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Since the Coronavirus Disease 2019 -Covid-19 pandemic has attacked almost all countries in the world, efforts have been made to slow its spread. Each country has different policies in responding to the Covid-19 outbreak. There are some countries that urge their citizens to implement social distancing or physical distancing. There are also others that impose lockdowns. All of which are believed to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

How about Indonesia? Recently, several groups of people have urged the central government to impose a lockdown policy. Because, the number of positive cases of Covid-19 in Indonesia has increased rapidly. However, it seems that the central government does not want to enforce the policy, although several cities in Indonesia have imposed regional quarantine or regional lockdowns to close access in and out of their territory.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo through a video conference on Tuesday (3/31/2020) stated that he was better off choosing Large Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) to face the Covid-19 pandemic. The policy is regulated in Government Regulation (PP) No. 21/2020 signed by President Joko Widodo. The implementing rules were released by the Ministry of Health in the Republic of Indonesia Minister of Health Regulation (Permenkes) No.9 / 2020 on Friday (3/4/2020).

The large-scale social restrictions are the ones on certain activities of residents in one area suspected of being infected with Covid-19 to prevent its spread. This restriction is carried out during the longest incubation period, namely 14 days. If there is still evidence of the spread of new cases, this policy can be extended within 14 days of the case being found last.
 
It’s worth noting closely that the contents of the Health Ministry’s regulation are considered to be more flexible than the lockdown policy. In the large-scale social restrictions despite restrictions on activities in schools and offices, places of worship, public places, public transportation, and socio-cultural activities, residents are still allowed to walk around and leave the house for essentially logical reasons. In contrast, some countries impose lockdown where residents are not allowed to leave the house at all except for buying basic necessities and medicines. Even, some countries also impose fines and criminal penalties for residents who leave the house

The large-scale social restrictions taken by the Indonesian government are appropriate steps to improve community discipline and are expected to reduce the spread of Covid-19. The most important thing is how the Indonesian people remain disciplined to limit activities outside the home and avoid crowded places and maintain health and cleanliness that starts from themselves.