Public compliance with health protocols has increased in nearly every province of Indonesia, according to Sonny Harry B. Harmadi, head of the behavior change division of the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling.
"The scores of public compliance with health protocols have increased in almost all provinces," he said at an online discussion of the Merdeka Barat 9 forum, held here on Wednesday.
According to the task force, during the period between September 7, 2020 and July 20, 2021, compliance with the rule on wearing masks was 84.77 percent, social distancing and avoiding crowds was 87.11 percent, while the compliance score for the rule on hand washing using soap in running water was 7.65 out of 10.
The increasing public compliance with health protocols to prevent transmission of the coronavirus has partly been aided by behavior change ambassadors, Harmadi noted.
From September 7, 2020 to July 20, 2021, the COVID-19 task force recruited 60,324 people as ambassadors for behavior change in 126 districts and cities in seven provinces, he informed.
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The behavior change ambassadors have so far educated 25,411,040 people about COVID-19 and distributed 5,329,992 masks, he added.
These efforts have contributed to an increase in public adherence to the 3M health protocols -- washing hands, wearing masks, and maintaining a safe distance, he said.
However, there has been a slight increase in the percentage of residents refusing to take part in educational activities regarding the implementation of health protocols nationally from an average of between 0.8 and 0.9 percent to 1.2 percent during the enforcement of Level 4 public movement restrictions (PPKM), Harmadi said.
"Our society is very heterogeneous. Of course, there are variations in people's compliance with health protocols. One thing which is important is that people's knowledge about 3M is very high, it is very good," he noted.
The task force will continue to strive to improve public compliance with health protocols in an effort to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmissions, he added.
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Editor : Mahdani
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