IDNEWSNOW.COM, Jakarta – Griffith University epidemiologist, Dicky Budiman, on Monday argues that it would need a minimum of 30-days to see the effects of the second large-scale social restriction (PSBB) as two weeks is deemed too short of a time to produce results.
“That would be the time results could be seen,” said Budiman on Monday, September 28. “PSBB results in terms of numbers will not immediately be seen.”
The epidemiologist pointed out that the incubation of the COVID-19 coronavirus is generally believed to be two weeks which means the numbers that emerge now are the effects of infections within that time period in the past.
The two weeks time set by the government for every PSBB period is also generally considered too short to produce results from PCR swab tests. Ideally, he said, results of swab tests should be in real time as this would further accommodate calculations and analysis.
Daily additional COVID-19 cases exceeding one thousand continues despite the Jakarta administration imposing the full-scale PSBB restriction on September 14, 2020. Governor Anies Baswedan had extended the restriction period as he claimed the number of active cases had reduced during the full-scale PSBB period.
Read also: Pandemic Will Linger If PSBB Only Applied in Jakarta: Epidemiologist
LANI DIANA WIJAYA
