The enthusiasm to deal with the crisis cannot go down. Hence, I want to emphasize some aspects that warrant the Committee’s attentionJakarta (ANTARA) - At a limited meeting via video teleconference, Monday, President Joko Widodo reminded all government officials to not allow the enthusiasm to overcome the crisis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic to dampen.
"The enthusiasm to deal with the crisis cannot go down. Hence, I want to emphasize some aspects that warrant the Committee’s attention," Widodo remarked at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta.
The president called to uphold the spirit to tackle the crisis until vaccines became available and could be utilized effectually.
On July 20, 2020, the head of state had signed Presidential Decree No. 82 of 2020 on the Coronavirus Disease Handling Committee 2019 (COVID-19) and the National Economic Recovery that includes the establishment of a Policy Committee with Coordinating Minister for the Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto and Acting Chair of the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Erick Thohir.
The Policy Committee is in charge of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force chaired by Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Doni Monardo and the National Economic Recovery and Transformation Task Force led by Deputy Minister of SOEs Budi Gunawan Sadikin.
"This committee was formed to integrate health and economic policies," he stated.
The president urged the committee to work swiftly to tackle problems on the field.
"If the problem lies in the regulation, then it should be revised to expedite matters. Do a shortcut and make improvements," the president suggested.
Until Sunday (July 26) the cumulative count of COVID-19 patients in Indonesia had reached 98,778, of which 56,655 were declared cured and 4,781 had died. Furthermore, 55,647 patients were suspected to have contracted COVID-19.
COVID-19 has spread across 34 provinces in Indonesia, with the highest number of cases in East Java, reaching 20,256; followed by 18,741 in DKI Jakarta, 8,747 in South Sulawesi, 8,336 in Central Java, 5,988 in West Java, 4,540 in South Kalimantan, 3,371 in North Sumatra, 3,228 in South Sumatra, 3,114 in Bali, 2,832 in Papua, 2,216 in North Sulawesi, 1,883 in West Nusa Tenggara, 1,724 in Banten, and 1,587 in Central Kalimantan.
Globally, based on data from the Worldometers website, until Monday (July 27) morning, a total of 16,413,954 people were infected with the new type of coronavirus, 652,057 of whom succumbed to the disease, while 10,042,584 others were declared cured.
Most COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States, reaching 4,371,839, followed by 2,419,901 cases in Brazil, and 1,436,019 cases in India.
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Translator: Desca Lidya, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
