If I liken the pandemic to a war, it can be said that with the app, we already have an advanced weapon to prevent any spike in cases.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The utilization of PeduliLindungi has grown rapidly with the application used more than 170 million times so far, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, has said.

"It happens in just three and a half months with daily usage average reaching more than 3 million times," he said at an online webinar on ‘Consistency of Using PeduliLindungi Quick Response Code for the Protection of Indonesian People’, accessed from here on Wednesday.

He admitted that at the beginning of its implementation, the app experienced a number of problems. However, it has improved greatly now, he remarked.

In fact, it has been integrated with other apps, for instance, online taxi apps and e-commerce platforms, he noted.

In addition, the Health Ministry has integrated the app with various similar apps in other countries, he informed.

The coordinating minister said that the one thing which made him very proud of the PeduliLindungi app is that it has been fully developed by young Indonesians.

"With PeduliLindungi as an integral part of our strategy in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been able to keep the number of cases at a low level, although community mobility has greatly increased," he said.

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He informed that in the last 10 days, the number of national daily cases remained below 500 cases per day and the mortality rate had also decreased significantly.

Furthermore, Pandjaitan -- who is also the coordinator for the enforcement of community activity restrictions (PPKM) in the Java-Bali region -- lauded the public for their consistency in using the PeduliLindungi app.

"If I liken the pandemic to a war, it can be said that with the app, we already have an advanced weapon to prevent any spike in cases," he emphasized.

However, even the most sophisticated weapons will not be effective if they are not used properly, he said.

Currently, people’s discipline in using the app has started to decline along with the decline in the number of positive cases, he noted.

"We must not be careless. We must remain vigilant as currently, the number of global cases is starting to increase again," he emphasized.

The coordinating minister urged the public to be careful to avoid any increased mobility during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

"If the government decides to restrict community mobility during Christmas and New Year holidays, I ask the public to understand as the attempt has to be taken to improve our condition in the first quarter of the next year," he said.
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Translator: Ade Junida, Uyu Liman
Editor: Suharto
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