To the handful of people remaining who still observe PPKM, President Joko Widodo today said that the pandemic-era restrictions will soon come to an end as the worst of COVID-19 seems to be well and truly behind Indonesia.
The enforcement of PPKM, which stands for the Enforcement of Restrictions on Public Activities, has been enforced and extended on a regular basis since 2021. The protocol was last extended on Dec. 6, and is set to last until Jan. 9.
“Yesterday our daily infection count was around 1,200. Maybe at the end of this year we will announce the end of PPKM,” Jokowi said this morning.
Indonesia was devastated by the outbreak of the Delta variant of the coronavirus in mid-2021, during which the country recorded over 50,000 new cases a day. During this period, more than 1,000 people were confirmed dead due to the disease per day.
In March of 2022, the country saw even higher infection rates due to the outbreak of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, but the daily death toll was far lower in the 200s.
The country’s caseload spiked slightly towards the end of 2022 due to the emergence of Omicron’s sub-variants, while deaths remained in the low double-digits everyday.
Though PPKM is officially still around, its enforcement throughout 2022 has been much more relaxed (and even non-existent in some places) compared to 2021.
Here’s to hoping we won’t ever need it again.
