In an official press conference held on Monday, he said, “During PON, there has been no significant spike in COVID-19 cases throughout the event.”
The implementation of the Papua PON will be a lesson for committees in organizing other large events, he added, noting some 80 people involved in PON have tested positive for COVID-19 out of the total 10,066 participating athletes and officials.
The government will take integrated steps to handle that matter, he further added.
Luhut also said the government issued a Circular (SE) from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force regarding the return of contingents and committees to their hometown, aimed at preventing an increase in COVID-19 cases.
"The government has issued Task Force circular No. 17 for 2021 to prevent COVID-19 transmission from happening after the PON contingents and committees have returned to their hometowns," he stressed.
PON 2021 is being held from 2nd to 15th October, 2021, with the participation of 6,400 athletes and 3,500 officials from 34 provinces across Indonesia in 37 sports.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) officially opened the event at the Lukas Enembe Stadium, Sentani, Jayapura, Papua, on Saturday, 2nd October, 2021. However, competitions in some sports had started earlier in mid-September 2021.
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Translator: Ade Irma, Raka Adji
Editor: Sri Haryati
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