VIVA – Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Puan Maharani deemed it important to apply a mature and comprehensive strategy for the plan to lift public activity restrictions (PPKM).
"A mature and comprehensive strategy needs to be put in place regarding the plan to revoke the PPKM to prevent it from causing excessive euphoria in the community," she noted here on Wednesday.
Despite an improvement in Indonesia's COVID-19 situation, she assessed that mature planning is necessary to ensure that the community stayed alert to the COVID-19 virus.
"We all need to understand that COVID-19 is still present among us. Anticipatory measures are needed, so that the community will remain alert to the virus when the PPKM policy is revoked," she stressed.
Maharani highlighted that the World Health Organization (WHO) had yet to officially revoke the status of the COVID-19 pandemic. She urged the government to continue to work with experts and epidemiologists to evaluate the PPKM policy.
"Find the right formula, so that when the PPKM is revoked, the community is ready and understands how to remain careful and alert in conducting its daily activities," she remarked.
According to the house speaker, the lifting of restrictions should not give rise to a misconception among people that Indonesia is already free from COVID-19.
"This is because a lack of alertness will trigger a spike in cases," she added.
She urged the government to take into account the community's readiness in easing restrictions while calling it to continue to coordinate with the DPR regarding the plan to lift the PPKM. She also reminded the government to take into account various possibilities in the event of the plan being implemented.
"The COVID-19 pandemic still presents uncertainty, and the virus continues to mutate. We need to reflect on the experiences of other countries whose (COVID-19) cases have increased again when they began to ease restrictions massively," she stated.
Nevertheless, she expressed gratitude that several regions in the country have recorded an improvement in the PPKM status. She invited the community to continually comply with the health protocols. (ant)
