Puan urges government to provide certainty on hantavirus information

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Chairwoman of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) Puan Maharani has urged the government to provide certainty of information and public protection in facing the hantavirus threat to avoid societal panic. In a statement in Jakarta on Monday, Puan reminded that society is currently in a highly sensitive situation regarding health issues following the COVID-19 pandemic experience. The emergence of hantavirus cases, according to her, needs to be handled with a calm, open approach based on public protection. “The biggest challenge in facing the emergence of uncommon disease threats must be addressed from various aspects,” Puan stated. The government, she said, needs to maintain public trust through clear information, measured anticipatory steps, and protection that can be felt by the public. As an anticipatory step to prevent the spread of hantavirus, she assessed that the government needs to act quickly to ensure the public understands the situation comprehensively, starting from transmission patterns, who the most vulnerable groups are, prevention steps, and the extent of the risk to the general public. She viewed openness of information as an important part of public protection. Because, Puan said, when the public does not receive sufficient explanations, space for disinformation and fear can develop faster than the handling itself. “Not only based on technical explanations that are difficult for the wider public to access. Socialisation must reach the grassroots directly,” she said. On the other hand, she also highlighted the importance of regional health service readiness in detecting and handling diseases quickly. She urged the government to strengthen surveillance to prevent virus transmission. According to her, environmental-based disease threats often first appear in areas with uneven health service capacity and environmental surveillance. For this reason, she encouraged the government not to focus only on handling cases that have already emerged. “But also to strengthen regional preparedness, including health facility and medical personnel readiness, laboratories and other supporting facilities, as well as early detection mechanisms and rapid reporting,” Puan said.