PRESS RELEASE

Deletion of the Number of Deaths Indicator: Clear Evidence of Careless Management of Covid-19 Data and Handling, and Is an Act That Violates the Law

On Monday, 9 August 2021, Luhut Pandjaitan as the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment and also as the Emergency PPKM Coordinator in Java and Bali announced the extension of PPKM Level 4 in Java and Bali until 16 August 2021. The government also stated that it had excluded the death rate from the Covid-19 handling indicator due to problems in data input caused by the accumulation of death cases in the previous few weeks. With the elimination of the death indicator, there were 26 districts/cities whose status was downgraded to PPKM level 3. Luhut claimed that the implementation of PPKM level 4 was successful in reducing the number of Covid-19 cases by 59.6 percent from the peak of cases on July 15 2021.

The decision to eliminate the death rate as an indicator for handling Covid-19 was taken when there was a significant increase in the death rate. Data from the Covid-19 Task Force shows that during PPKM level 4, the death rate was still around 1,300-1,500 cases. On August 10 2021, the addition of deaths reached 2,048 cases, resembling the highest number at the peak of the spread in July 2021 and the highest in the world. This data is still in doubt considering that according to LaporCovid-19 records as of the end of last July, there were at least 19,000 deaths of Covid-19 patients that were not recorded in the Task Force data.

The death rate is very important information to show the fatality of the Covid-19 virus which spreads in a certain area and time, especially now that we are dealing with various mutated variants of Covid-19 with varying impacts. It is important for this information to be managed well, to be objective, trustworthy and most importantly, to be open. This principle is in line with the WHO Covid-19 handling guidelines and even the Covid-19 Prevention and Control Guidelines set by the government itself through the Minister of Health. More fundamentally than that, the omission of death rates in Covid-19 response data is a violation of Government Regulation Number 40 of 1991 concerning Management of Infectious Disease Outbreaks (PP Number 40 of 1991).

The Community Coalition for the Right to Health believes that this decision shows how haphazard the government is in managing Covid-19 data. This is a form of manipulating public knowledge regarding the handling of Covid-19 when this is used as a basis for lowering the status of handling in 26 cities/districts. This government step is certainly unfounded because it was decided to eliminate death data which is mandated as important data in formulating epidemiological considerations. Furthermore, based on Article 2 paragraph 1 of Government Regulation Number 40 of 1991, epidemiological considerations are used in determining and eliminating areas affected by the epidemic.

On the other hand, similar manipulation was even carried out in claims of a decline in the number of Covid-19 cases during PPKM level 4, which unfortunately was directly proportional to the number of tests carried out. Task Force data shows that the number of national tests on August 10 2021 was carried out on 146,150 people, whereas the previous average number was around 100,000 people nationally. This number is very far from the number of testing targets set by the government, which, for the Java-Bali region alone, is targeted at 324,283 people per day. Coupled with the fact that the vaccination rate in Indonesia has only reached 24.49 percent, these things clearly show the failure of PPKM Level 4 which the government has not shown.

This decision cannot be separated from the government's plan to reopen various business sectors to operate. For example, with permits for export-based essential industries to operate 100 percent, or a policy to operate shopping centers with the requirement of a vaccine card resulting from collaboration with the Indonesian Mall Association. In fact, in the near future, President Joko Widodo is launching a roadmap for Indonesia to live side by side with Covid-19 which focuses on reactivation of the business world.

The Community Coalition for the Right to Health views this decision as not based on the priority of public health aspects, but purely economic aspects. With the poor management of information regarding Covid-19 and the government's poor implementation of 3T during the last PPKM, these easing efforts will again lead to failure in handling Covid-19 and again compromise public safety.

On this basis, The Community Coalition for the Right to Health demands that the Indonesian Government:

1. Reintroducing the death rate as an indicator for handling Covid-19 as regulated in Article 4 paragraph 1 of Government Regulation Number 40 of 1991 concerning Management of Infectious Disease Outbreaks, and improving the management of essential data for handling Covid-19, as well as ensuring that information is open and accessible to the public;
2. Improving the failure of PPKM level 4 by prioritizing and increasing the implementation of 3T and vaccination;
3. Delaying relaxation to the 2 points above is done for the safety of the community;

Indonesia, 13 August 2021

Best regards,
Community Coalition for the Right to Health

1. LBH Jakarta
2. LBH Community
3. YLBHI
4. FBHUK
5. WALHI
6. YPII
7. Srikandi Lestari Foundation
8. ContraS
9. PUSaKO
10. Sajogyo Institute
11. Report Covid-19
12. ICW
13. Lokataru
14. IT Indonesia
15. AEER Society
16. #CleanIndonesia

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