The Transitional Large-Scale Social Distancing (“PSBB”) has been further extended pursuant to Governor of DKI Jakarta Decree No.1100 of 2020 on Enforcement on the Implementation on Transition Period of Large-Scale Social Distancing Toward a Healthy, Safe and Productive Society (“Governor Decree 1100/2020”).
Extension started from 23 November and will last until 6 December 2020; wherein automatic extension will be immediately effective should the number of Covid-19 cases in Jakarta continue to spike. According to the official statistics from the Jakarta Post, the Health Ministry reports 6,267 new confirmed Covid-19 cases bringing the total number of nationwide infections north of 534,000. Jakarta recorded 1,431 new confirmed cases, bringing the tally to 135,762 in Jakarta alone.
DKI Jakarta Provincial Government Anies Baswedan has also provided in an official statement that: “As we all know, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government can implement an emergency brake policy if there is a significant increase in cases or an alarming rate of transmission. This will endanger health system services”.
Anies further stated that: “This is the time for us to be more vigilant and disciplined with health protocols. This means that transmission is still occurring and we must be more vigilant. If we feel or know that someone else is symptomatic or has been exposed to a positive case, we open the phone number of the Jakarta Covid-19 Response Post, namely at 112 and 081112112112.”
In regards to the global pharmaceutical race in developing a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, there has been momentous progress by US biotech giant Pfizer and German partner BioNTech. 20 November saw Pfizer and BioNTech submissions of their request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in order to seek authorization that may potentially enable use of the vaccine by December. The submission is based on a vaccine efficacy of 95% that was demonstrated in the companies’ Phase 3 clinical study in participants.1 Further to this, the obtaining of approvals from regulatory authorities worldwide will also then permit distribution of the vaccine candidate.
Regardless of the vaccine, the Indonesian government will continue to enforce the implementation of strict health protocols. The enforcement of the ‘3M Protocols’ will continue to be imposed involving the compulsory wearing of masks, washing of hands and maintaining of safe distances. The government will also continue to carry out the ‘3Ts’, which stands for Testing, Tracing, and Treatment. All of which are extremely vital in dampening the spread of Covid-19 throughout the largest archipelago in the world.
- ‘Pfizer And Biontech To Submit Emergency Use Authorization Request Today to The U.S. FDA For COVID-19 Vaccine | Pfizer’ (Pfizer.com, 2020) <https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-submit-emergency-use-authorization> accessed 30 November 2020. ↩︎
