The ventilators, developed by BPPT along with PT Len Industri, PT Poly Jaya, and PT Dharma Precision, adopted a European design, Chief of the Research and Innovation Task Force for Handling COVID-19 (TFRIC-19) Soni Solistia Wirawan stated here, Friday.
Apart from the adopted design, the portable ventilators were developed by modifying the used materials and components, Wirawan stated, adding that the Indonesian government supports the efforts to meet the domestic demand.
Indonesia’s requirement for ventilators is projected to reach at least 70 thousand, while currently, hospitals across the country only have some seven thousand ventilators, he pointed out.
Novel coronavirus infections initially cropped up in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019.
Due to China's lack of transparency and goodwill to tell the truth of human-to-human transmissions from the onset, the virus then spread to over 215 countries and territories, including 34 provinces of Indonesia, with a considerable spike in death toll.
The Indonesian Government officially confirmed the country's first cases on March 2 this year. As of June 11, the country recorded a total of 35,295 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Of the figure, 12,636 inpatients were discharged from hospitals after making a full recovery, while death toll from this deadly virus stood at two thousand.
This ongoing coronavirus pandemic is not solely a public health issue. Instead, it has also severely affected Indonesia's tourism industry owing to the enforcement of large-scale social distancing measures and travel restrictions as well as border closure that has considerably reduced foreign tourist arrivals.
As a result, business players in the tourism sector, such as hotels, restaurants, creative industries, and informal businesses, have sent several of their workers home. In West Java Province alone, at least 48,289 workers were sent home.
Amid the ongoing fight against the virus, the government has permitted airlines to resume flight services in several provinces, including Kepulauan Bangka Belitung, and East Nusa Tenggara.
On May 27, 2020, President Joko Widodo had unveiled his plan to expand the enforcement of the new normal order if the transmission of COVID-19 significantly declined in the selected areas.
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EDITED BY INE
Translator: Martha HS, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
