PON Papua -- 83 COVID-19 cases detected at XX Papua PON

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin at a press conference on community activity restrictions on Monday (October 11, 2021). (ANTARA/Desi Purnamawati/uyu)

Eighty-three COVID-19 cases have been reported during the XX National Sports Week (PON) being held in Papua as of Monday afternoon, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has informed.

"The 83 cases are concentrated among the participants competing in several sports -- comprising judo, archery, roller skating, cricket, and motocross -- as well as originating from a number of provinces -- for instance, Jakarta, East Java, Central Java, and Bali," he said at an online press conference on community activity restrictions (PPKM), accessed here on Monday.

According to the ministry's observation, virus transmission occurred in the lodging as each room was occupied by four people and the PON participants often ate together, the minister informed.

"It will be our evaluation to improve the implementation of health protocols in future events," he said.

The implementation of the health protocols can still be improved by giving greater authority to the regional COVID-19 handling task forces, he added.

Furthermore, he said that his ministry had noticed that seven infected athletes had returned to their provinces before the end of their five-day quarantine period.

One athlete returned to Tarakan City, North Kalimantan Province, two returned to Jambi Province, three to Sidoarjo District, East Java Province, and one to the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province, he noted.

"The President (Joko Widodo) has urged the athletes to be quarantined at their hometowns," Sadikin said.

Several standards have been set regarding the implementation of health protocols at the XX PON, including giving adequate authority to the task forces and maintaining distancing among participants at the inns both while resting and eating, the minister said.

Other standards include conducting routine COVID-19 PCR tests to identify infected participants faster and keeping isolation centers ready to quarantine patients immediately, he added.

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