IDNEWSNOW.COM, Jakarta – An epidemiologist from Griffith University, Dicky Budiman, argued that the government should not mull over reopening schools as Indonesia was still grappling with the critical situation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Do not think about loosening the restrictions, let alone opening schools in the current situation,” said Dicky to Tempo on Monday, November 23, 2020.
Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim recently allowed regional governments to reopen schools starting January 2021 regardless of their regions’ risk-zone status.
Face-to-face learning activities, he said, posed a high risk of coronavirus transmission among children, including in Jakarta. The capital city’s positivity rate has not been dropped to below 5 percent, he added.
“Jakarta remains at risk because the TPR (test positivity rate) is not less than five percent yet,” Dicky underlined.
The Jakarta administration reported the COVID-19 positivity rate at 8.3 percent as of November 22, 2020. The figure is higher than the recommended safe rate by the World Health Organization (WHO) at no more than five percent.
To date, Jakarta has 127,164 positive cases, with 8,694 patients still in treatment, 2,531 deaths, and 115,939 recoveries.
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LANI DIANA WIJAYA