by Bambang Purwanto
JAKARTA, Oct 4 (NNN-XINHUA) — Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, called for micro-scale social restrictions to be introduced in provinces, amid the surge in the COVID-19 cases.
The president made the appeal for exercising such practices, also known as “mini lock-down” at a cabinet meeting, while expressing confidence that such measures will be more effective in bringing the surge in COVID-19 infections under control.
“The micro-scale social restrictions which are applied in villages, towns, RW’s (community administrations), RT’s (lower community administrations), offices and boarding schools would be more effective,” he said.
He noted that lock-downs of a whole district, city or province is not necessary, as the COVID-19 pandemic likely affects only parts of an area, and that measures taken at scales larger than needed would impact the economy.
In Indonesia, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continued to rise. On Saturday, the Health Ministry reported a daily spike of 4,007, bringing the total tally to 299,506 with 11,055 deaths.
Donny Gahral Adian, an expert from the Presidential Staff Office, told the Liputan6.com online news that, measures like “mini lock-down” have already been imposed in a number of regions, including West Java and Jakarta, and that other regions were expected to follow suit.
“So, the mini lock-down shall be applied in areas found to be in the red or black zone (with high risks of COVID-19 transmissions),” Adian said.
West Java Governor, Ridwan Kamil, said, his administration implemented “mini lock-down” measures in cities including Bogor, Depok and Bekasi.
The micro-scale lock-downs have been effective in curbing the number of COVID-19 cases in West Java, he said, with applications in small administrative areas, including at the levels of sub-district, locally known as kecamatan and sub-sub-district or kelurahan.
Deputy Governor, Ahmad Riza Patria, said, “Jakarta has, since the beginning, made a concept of ‘standby area’ in all RW’s. It is similar to the concept of mini lock-down. The RW’s which are found to be in the red zone are blocked.”– NNN-XINHUA
