According to the information that we receive, Ferial has been struggling for his life at the ICU owing to the virus. Please pray for the deceased. May he be bestowed with 'husnul khotimah' (good ending, with blessings ahead)
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Ferial Surya Wicaksono, 34, a staff member of the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK's) Investigation Directorate, succumbed to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Thursday morning, the anti-graft body's spokesman, Ali Fikri, stated.

Wicaksono passed away at around 6:48 a.m. local time after ailing from the symptoms of COVID-19 and receiving medical treatment at a hospital's intensive care unit (ICU), he revealed.

"According to the information that we receive, Ferial has been struggling for his life at the ICU owing to the virus. Please pray for the deceased. May he be bestowed with 'husnul khotimah' (good ending, with blessings ahead)," Fikri had remarked.

On September 13, 2020, the anti-graft body lost its senior investigator Pandu Hendra Sasmita, who died after being hospitalized at the National Police Hospital in East Jakarta.

Sasmita had tested negative for COVID-19 prior to his death, Fikri stated.

In August 2020, some 23 KPK workers tested positive for coronavirus. As a result, the KPK building was closed from August 31 to September 2, 2020, for sanitization through disinfectant spraying.

In October 2020, some 117 people at the KPK building had reportedly recovered from COVID-19. One of those recovering from COVID-19 was Novel Baswedan, the commission's senior investigator.

COVID-19 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.

To tackle the COVID-19 pandemic that has triggered public health and economic crises in several affected countries, Indonesia is leaving no stone unturned to procure COVID-19 vaccines and develop its own vaccine to fight the virus.

Currently, in addition to China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, Indonesian scientists are working on a vaccine named after the country's national flag, Merah Putih (Red and White).

The pandemic has battered Indonesia's economy, with the nation's gross domestic product contracting 5.32 percent in the second quarter of 2020.

The government has laid emphasis on the criticality of solid support of and active participation from all elements of society to tackle the public health and economic crises.

The government has also commenced its national COVID-19 vaccination program on January 13, 2021, and President Joko Widodo has received his first and second vaccine injections.
Related news: Commission's COVID-19 positive detainees shifted to Wisma Atlet: KPK

Related news: KPK investigator under self-quarantine after contracting COVID-19

Close
EDITED BY INE

Translator: Benardy F, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2021