COVID-19: Where are we now?

On 2 March 2020, the first three cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia were found in a family who resided in Depok, West Java. It was later discovered that the source of the outbreak was a nightclub in Jakarta. Many people were also contracted COVID-19 afterwards as social mobility was still pretty high at that moment.

Since then, the Indonesian government has tried initiating several protocols in order to contain the outbreak, starting from prohibiting mass gatherings to social restrictions with their own acronyms, such as large-scale social restrictions (PSBB), new normal and micro-scale public activity restrictions (PPKM).

As of 1 March 2021, Indonesia recorded a total of 1,341,314 cases with 36,325 deaths. Average daily cases stands at 5,000-7,000. Jakarta makes up 25.5% of the cases, followed by West Java with 15.8%, Central Java with 11.5% and East Java with 9.7%.

How did we get here?

Since COVID-19 started emerging in Indonesia, the first highest cases was recorded at 533 cases on 9 May 2020. The record was renewed at 1,043 cases the following month on 9 June 2020, making it the first highest daily cases since the pandemic broke out.

The daily numbers were recorded at 1,525 on 27 July 2020, leading Indonesia to its first 100,000 cases. It was another new record at 100,303 cases, to be more precise. Afterwards, the graph only went up as the country posted record numbers every time.

Fast forward to November 2020, the record was 502,110 cases, making Indonesia the country with the second highest rate of coronavirus cases in Asia Pacific and first in ASEAN. This was the point where Indonesia has even surpassed China, where the first known case was found.

Looking at the numbers, it has become urgent for the government to evaluate the coronavirus countermeasures so that they can be more effective.

To this date, the government has issued five countermeasures. First, the establishment of a task force to accelerate COVID-19 handling, namely Gugus Tugas Percepatan Penanganan COVID-19. The task force was formed on 13 March 2020, eleven days after the first cases were found. It was later dissolved in July 2020 and was replaced by another task force, namely Satuan Tugas Penanganan COVID-19, which carries the same duty but with additional task, i.e. to add national economic recovery to its resolution. The latter still operates to this day.

The second initiative is the implementation of health protocols, such as physical distancing, wearing masks and washing hands in public. There was also tracing to map the pattern of COVID-19 spread. The government also formed the Behaviour Change Unit (Bidang Perubahan Perilaku) in October 2020 to further push the punishment for those who did not abide by health protocols.

Third, the government imposed large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) back in March 2020. PSBB regulated school and work vacations (distance learning and work from home), restrictions on religious events and practices, as well as restrictions on activities in public places or public facilities. DKI Jakarta was the first province to implement this protocol. Other provinces and 16 districts/cities followed afterwards.

The fourth measure is another social restriction, but focuses on community activities: the enforcement of micro-scale public activity restrictions (PPKM). The government is seeking to prevent public activities from turning into new COVID-19 clusters.

This protocol was implemented in several big cities with high population, such as municipalities in DKI Jakarta as well as several cities and districts in Java and Bali. The determinant factors of which area this protocol must be implemented are death rate, recovery rate and active case rate or hospital occupancy rate. In short, this initiative is aimed at tightening the protocols.

The last measure is pushing nationwide mass vaccination gradually since 13 January 2021, with President Joko Widodo being the first Indonesian to be vaccinated for COVID-19. It is part of building herd immunity. For now, the government is using vaccine made by China’s Sinovac, but will also use those from other manufacturers, such as Pfizer, Novavax and AstraZeneca, as well as vaccine procured under COVAX/GAVI. Although the realistic timeline is 3.5 years for all Indonesian people to receive the vaccine, the government is striving to push the target to year-end.