Imam Hamdi, Jakarta – An epidemiologist from the University of Indonesia, Syahrizal Syarif, opined that the government was not serious in handling the COVID-19 cases so that led to the increasing infections in Jakarta and other Indonesian regions.

"This depends on the leaders, whether they are serious or not in containing the pandemic," said Syahrizal in a text to Tempo on Sunday, July 12.

Jakarta provincial government reported an all-time daily high of 404 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday, July 12. The figure pushed the total tally to 14,361 cases in the capital.

Syahrizal assessed that the government was not being serious in mitigating the pandemic, which was evident from its decision to relax several policies while the pandemic had not been under control yet and its weakness in enforcing the health protocols.

"Extreme and brave steps are necessary for this too loose situation," he remarked.

The government, he opined, was taking this pandemic mitigation lightly as if it would end soon on its own. "The virus never gets tired, but humans will later do so."

According to him, experts have contributed a lot of ideas such as regional quarantine, strict health protocols, and up to cases examination and isolation. "All advises will be useless if they are not realized," Syahrizal said.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1364448/epidemiologist-questions-govts-seriousness-in-covid-19-handling