South Kalimantan should not be fooled by COVID-19 declining cases

Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - South Kalimantan acting Governor Safrizal reminded the public not to be fooled by the number of COVID-19 cases which tended to fall in recent times.

"The number indeed tends to slopes and decreasing, but doesn't mean that the infection not to occur again. Stay alert, because the pandemic still threatens if we are careless and ignore health protocols," he pointed out here on Tuesday.

The alertness of the entire is even demanded to be higher considering the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 which is currently endemic in Java.

South Kalimantan, Safrizal said, is a very open area, such as flights from a number of airports in Java to the International Syamsudin Noor Airport and vice versa.

Thus the health protocols should be tightened through the implementation of micro-scale public activity restriction (PPKM Mikro) with strict monitoring and supervision.

"I ask regents and mayors for the health protocols campaign to continue. Likewise, the enforcement of PPKM Mikro rules must be ensured to run optimally and be obeyed by the community," he said.

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On the other hand, Safrizal instructed 13 regions in South Kalimantan to increase COVID-19 tests and to expedite vaccination for all targets so that herd immunity can be realized.

"Come on, for people who have not been vaccinated, please come to the place where the vaccination is held. Almost every day COVID-19 vaccine is being given," he said.

Regarding the regional locking (lockdown) policy, according to Safrizal, is has not been implemented because there is no red zone. If it turns out a significant increase in COVID-19 cases occurs, for example in a village or sub-district, then a limited quarantine measure will be taken and a social assistance package will be prepared.

Based on data on COVID-19 cases in South Kalimantan published by the Health Agency as of June 21, 2021, as many as 35,570 COVID-19 cases recorded, it consisted of 625 patients are being treated, 33,892 patients recovered, and 1,053 died.

Compared to the previous day, the suspect cases were decreased by 5, patients treated decreased by 25, positive cases added by 5, and the recovery number increased by 29, and 1 died. 

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