Less than two weeks from now, the voting day will have taken place. This must not disrupt our huge efforts to handle the novel coronavirus pandemic and to recover our economyJakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) reiterated his call, Monday, for home minister, police chief, and COVID-19 task force to specifically prioritize handling the COVID-19 pandemic on voting day of this year's Dec-9 scheduled simultaneous regional elections.
"Less than two weeks from now, the voting day will have taken place. This must not disrupt our huge efforts to handle the novel coronavirus pandemic and to recover our economy," he stated at a meeting held at the Merdeka Palace here.
President Jokowi highlighted the importance of strictly implementing the government's health protocols during the remaining days of the campaign trail and on the voting day to prevent the surfacing of new COVID-19 clusters.
Speaking at the meeting highlighting issues pertaining to the National Committee for Handing COVID-19 Pandemic and Economic Recovery's report, President Jokowi also drew attention to significant issues related to the long year-end holidays amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regarding the economic recovery efforts, President Jokowi highlighted the contraction of Indonesia's economy that could have been reduced, from -5.32 percent in the second quarter to -3.49 percent in the third quarter.
"This improving trend must be kept on track, so that our condition in the fourth quarter is better than that of the third quarter," he remarked, adding that a strategy must be in place for pushing “the brake and accelerator pedals” in a balanced mode for handling public health and economic recovery issues.
Jokowi pointed out that the government's endeavors to handle the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on public health and economy had begun showing favorable results.
As of November 22, 2020, Indonesia's average number of active COVID-19 cases was recorded at 12.78 percent, or lower than the global rate of 28.41 percent, he stated.
COVID-19 initially emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019 and spread across the world, including to countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Indonesia made an official announcement on the country's first confirmed cases on March 2 this year.
The Indonesian government has consistently expressed confidence in the potential of COVID-19 vaccines for helping win the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic that has posed a serious threat to public health and the economy.
Over the past few months, the government has made all-out efforts to secure potential COVID-19 vaccines for Indonesians through bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
The government is also supporting research efforts towards developing the country's own COVID-19 vaccine, Merah Putih (Red and White), named after the colors of the national flag.
Moreover, Indonesia is cooperating with China and the United Kingdom for the procurement and supply of COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
An Indonesian delegation secured access to COVID-19 vaccines from China during a meeting with the representatives from Cansino, G42, Sinopharm, and Sinovac in China on October 10 this year.
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Translator: Hanni S, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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