Indonesia's Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto revealed on Friday that the government has disbursed funds to the tune of Rp3.3 trillion for this year for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.
"The total amount of funds that the government will prepare for this multi-year program will reach Rp37 trillion," he told journalists after attending the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Committee's meeting here.
Hartarto also highlighted Indonesia's recovery and death rates, saying the country's recovery rate has reached 71.7 percent, which is higher than the global recovery rate, while its mortality rate has been recorded at 4.2 percent.
Indonesia has been taking steps to secure a COVID-19 vaccine. At present, clinical trials of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine are being conducted in Bandung, West Java province.
State-owned pharmaceutical holding company, Bio Farma, recently collaborated with China’s Sinovac to produce the COVID-19 vaccine for Indonesia. The materials provided by Sinovac for the vaccine arrived in Indonesia on July 19, 2020.
Novel coronavirus infections initially surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019.
Since then, COVID-19 has spread to over 215 countries and territories, including 34 provinces of Indonesia, with a massive spurt in death toll.
As of Friday (September 4, 2020), Indonesia has recorded 3,269 new COVID-19 cases which have brought the total tally of infections to 187,537, according to the country's Task Force for COVID-19 Response.
With 2,126 people recovering from COVID-19, the total recoveries stand at 134,181, the task force noted in a report released on Friday.
Meanwhile, the death toll has reached 7,832, with 82 people succumbing to the disease within the last 24 hours.
The figures suggest that the country currently has 45,524 active cases, or patients still receiving treatment or undergoing self-isolation. By Friday, 85,178 suspected patients have been placed under surveillance.
To tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia is leaving no stone unturned to develop a vaccine to fight the virus.
Currently, in addition to the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, Indonesian scientists are working on a vaccine named after the country's national flag, Merah Putih (Red and White). (INE)
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EDITED BY INE
Translator: Dewa KSW, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
