VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo deciphered four crucial points in the evaluation of the implementation of the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) policy in the four provinces and 72 districts and cities.

"What I want to say is that we seek a detailed evaluation in districts and cities pertaining to data on the trend of whether new positive cases in each region applying the PSBB rose or decreased," President Widodo stated during the limited meeting held via videoconference from the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Tuesday.

Based on the new cases, the president noted that the results before and after the implementation of PSBB were varied and differed across regions.

The head of state opined that this was since the implementation of PSBB was varied. Consequently, the number of new cases in regions had decreased gradually and consistently but not drastically, though there were areas where the number of cases had declined but had also not been consistent and still volatile.

"Moreover, in some areas, the addition of cases has not changed, as before the implementation of PSBB. Such aspects also need to be underlined," he stated.

The second surmise that the president drew was that of the 10 provinces with the most positive cases, only three -- DKI Jakarta, West Java, and West Sumatra -- had PSBB status, while seven other provinces were still non-PSBB.

Hence, evaluations were also conducted at the provincial and district/city levels that did not apply PSBB but implemented a physical distancing policy and strict health protocols in the people's day-to-day lives.

"A comparison should be drawn between PSBB and non-PSBB, as there are indeed innovations on the field by applying a policy model of restricting activities in the community adapted to the context of their respective regions," he stated.

According to the president, the third aspect was that the management of PSBB control was also expected to not become trapped in the administrative limits of the government.

"It also means agglomeration, handling large areas that are interconnected, so that inter-regional management is integrated. For instance, what Greater Jakarta has implemented is interrelated, so that social mobility arrangements from the community can be integrated and be better," he noted.

The president affirmed that the fourth vital aspect based on the Task Force’s data was that 70 percent of the positive cases were in Java, as well as 82 percent of mortality was also in Java.

The president also urged the Task Force to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic is effectively brought under control in five provinces in Java, especially in the subsequent two weeks.

During the meeting, the president also sought to ease the PSBB in a careful manner and not hurriedly. (ANTARA)