by Bambang Purwanto
JAKARTA, May 10 (NNN-XINHUA) – Following a decision made by Indonesia’s Transportation Minister, Budi Karya Sumadi, to allow all passenger transportation modes, the government has been warned of a possible second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The warning is reasonable as the number of people positive for the COVID-19 in Indonesia is on the rise.
The government on Saturday announced 533 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 13,645, and 16 new deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 959.
Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, recently said, there are 24 percent of people who insist on returning to their hometowns.
Using last year’s figure of people going back to hometowns which totaled about 23 million as mentioned by the transportation ministry lately, 24 percent of the figure is about 5.7 million.
The president himself said at a recent limited cabinet meeting that the figure is still too many in terms of the risk of more people probably contracting the COVID-19.
Economic observer with the Center of Reform on Economics Yusuf Rendy Manilet has reminded the government that the relaxation of public and business transportation to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 would have the potential for the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia.
He suggested that the government be prudent in making such a decision as the trend of the number of people positive for COVID-19 still continues to increase.
“The loosening policy is feared to cause the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. The fact that the number of COVID-19 patients has yet to decrease shows that Indonesia is unable yet to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 trend,” he told local media on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Secretary to the United Development Party Faction at the House of Representatives, Achmad Baidowi, said that the decision to allow all transportation modes to operate would make efforts to contain COVID-19 in a number of areas in Indonesia ineffective.
The mobility of people from one to other cities would make the current policy on social distancing and physical distancing unproductive, he said.
He also called on the government to seriously heed the returns of Indonesian migrant workers within this month for fear that they may carry the novel coronavirus.
Widodo has ordered authorities to make strides to prevent a possible second wave of COVID-19 infection from the coming tens of thousands of migrant workers and ship crew members as at least 16,000 Indonesian migrants will come home as of this month.
The government was expected to impose the first phase of the relaxation of the large-scale social restrictions on June 1, 2020, before all economic activities are expectedly open by the end of July, 2020.
The next phase would include an effort to lessen the restrictions on office activities in stages until the situation returns to normalcy.
“Amid the current pandemic, we must be able to live up to a condition until an effective vaccine is found,” the head of state said.
The Indonesian government continues to curb the number of new COVID-19 cases. At any cost, Widodo has had the target of flattening the curve of new COVID-19 patients achieved within this May.
