Minister of Health: Omicron Case Found from PeduliLindung Application
Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said his party found a case of Covid-19 from the Omicron variant from the PeduliLindung tracking. Budi said that with the PeduliLindung application, his party can see which shopping centers or malls are disciplined requiring visitors to use PeduliLindungi before entering the mall area. "Now we know which ones are disciplined to use Care for Protect and those who don't. Which malls have a lot of admittance (visitors) and which ones don't? Yesterday, the Omicron case, we also know because of PeduliLindung," said Budi at the PMK Briefing at the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture's building, Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, Wednesday (29/12/2021). However, Budi did not explain in more detail the case of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 that was found through PeduliLindung. He said that currently, more than 50 million people have downloaded it and 9 million are used per day. "So there are quite a lot of users," he said. Previously reported, the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) announced one case of Covid-19 variant Omicron from local transmission in Jakarta, Tuesday (28/12/2021). Thus, the total number of positive confirmed cases of Covid-19 from the Omicron Variant in Indonesia is 47 cases. Of the total cases, 46 cases were imported cases and 1 case was the local transmission.
Minister of Home Affairs Asks Regional Heads to Revoke Operational Permits for Public Places that are Undisciplined Apply Care to Protect
The Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) asked regional heads to consistently enforce the use of the PeduliLindung application. One of them is by imposing sanctions for organizers of public activities who violate the use of the application. "Enforce the use of the PeduliLindung application consistently and issue regional head regulations that regulate the obligation to use the application by providing strict sanctions for organizers of public activities that violate the discipline of using the PeduliLindung application," reads the SE rules as quoted from a press release on the Secretariat's official website. Cabinet, Thursday (12/23/2021). This is stated in the Circular (SE) of the Minister of Home Affairs Number 440/7183/SJ concerning the Prevention and Control of the 2019 Omicron Variant of Corona Virus Disease and Enforcement of the Use of the Pedulilindungi.SE Application, which was signed on December 21, 2021, addressed to regional heads throughout the country. The imposition of sanctions includes temporary or permanent revocation of the operating permit for the place of business. Still related to the PeduliLindung application, regional heads are also asked to tighten and monitor health protocols in places that have the potential for crowds and places of public activity by utilizing the optimal scan of the application. Furthermore, public places that are required to install the PeduliLindung application include public facilities, entertainment facilities, shopping centers, restaurants, and tourist attractions as well as other crowded centers.
1. Intensify the Implementation of Micro-Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) by optimizing the function of the Covid-19 Handling Task Force in each environment, both at the provincial, district/city, sub-district, urban, and village levels as well as the Neighborhood Association (RT)/Rukun Warga ( RW) by performing functions, including:
a. prevention. b. handling. c. construction. d. support for the implementation of the handling of Covid-19.
2. Intensify Covid-19 testing and close contact tracing to find Covid-19 cases and prevent faster transmission within the community.
3. Implement stricter health protocols with the 5M approach (wearing masks, washing hands with soap/hand sanitizer, maintaining distance, reducing mobility, and avoiding crowds) and 3T (testing, tracing, treatment) and considering ventilation, air, duration factors, and interaction distance to reduce the risk of transmission of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
4. Coordinate with the Regional Leadership Coordination Forum (Forkopimda) and other stakeholders including religious leaders, community leaders, community organizations, administrators of places of worship, hotel managers, tourist attractions managers, shopping center/mall managers, and business actors and other parties deemed necessary following the characteristics of each region in the context of prevention and enforcement of discipline following the provisions of laws and regulations.
5. Strengthening the capacity of Covid-19 special referral hospitals to anticipate a surge in the number of cases, including isolation treatment rooms and intensive care units (ICU) along with supporting logistics such as drugs and oxygen.
6. Accelerate the achievement of vaccination targets in their respective regions according to the targets that have been set, namely 70 percent for the first dose and specifically for the elderly, the target is 60 percent for the first dose using all types of vaccines. Do not only use CoronaVac/Sinovac-Bio Farma but also optimize the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson vaccines. In addition, it is necessary to accelerate the vaccination of dose 2 so as to reduce the difference (gap) in the achievement of the first dose and the second dose.
7. Vaccinate children aged six to eleven years if they have achieved 70 percent for the first dose and 60 percent for the elderly for the first dose using the CoronaVac/Sinovac-Bio Farma vaccine.
8. In the context of early detection of Omicron variants, coordinate with the Ministry of Health to equip their respective regional laboratories with S Gene Target Failure (SGTF) Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test facilities and ensure genomic sequencing of probable Omicron samples is carried out.