The electronics industry is one of crucial sectors to assist in speeding the nation's economic recovery.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Industry Ministry has continued to encourage electronics industry businesses to contribute in the handling of COVID-19.

"We have issued Industry Minister’s Circular Letter Number 3/2021 on industrial operations and mobility permits (IOMKI) amid the enforcement of community activity restrictions (PPKM),” Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said here on Monday.

“This is to maintain production activities while preventing the spread of COVID-19, especially in the industrial sector," he added.

Only industrial companies and estates that have industrial operations and mobility permits are allowed to continue their activities to meet domestic and export demands, according to Director General of Metal, Machinery, Transportation, and Electronics Industry (ILMATE) at the ministry, Taufiek Bawazier.

“The electronic industry is one of the crucial sectors to speed the recovery of the nation’s economy. Hence, it falls into essential sector and is allowed to operate with 50 percent of its staff," he added.

Amid the pandemic, there has been a jump in the demand of electronics products to support health facilities, especially air conditioner and fans, the director general said.

One of the manufacturers that supply these products to various health and self-quarantine facilities is PT Panasonic Manufacturing Indonesia that sold the products to Kemayoran Athletes Village and Pondok Gede Hajj Dormitory COVID-19 Emergency Hospital, Pasar Rumput Hospital, flats in Semarang, as well as COVID-19 emergency hospitals in Medan and Padang, vice president of PT Panasonic, Daniel Suhardiman has said.

The company will also supply fans and air conditioners to the Covid-19 modular hospitals in Tanjung Duren, Nagrak Cilincing, and Solo, he added.

Meanwhile, the Director of the Electronics and Telematics Industry at the ministry, Ali Murtopo Simbolon, has said that companies have to report about their complying with their industrial operations and mobility permits every Tuesday and Friday.

"We keep coordinating closely with the electronics manufacturers so they can continue to carry out their activities with strict health protocols. We monitor the incoming reports to avoid any emergence of a COVID-19 industrial cluster transmission," he added.

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Translator: Risbiani Fardaniah, Uyu Liman
Editor: Sri Haryati
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