"We became one of the five countries in the world to have succeeded in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic at level 1. This proved our nation's ability to face challenges," he remarked at the Congress for Alumni Association of the Indonesian National Student Movement at the State Palace on Monday.
President Jokowi affirmed that Indonesia's success in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated its ability to turn difficult challenges into opportunities in order to forge ahead.
Indonesia has also been exceedingly thorough and careful in its approach while issuing policies to control the COVID-19 pandemic and simultaneously restore the community's economy, he noted.
"When the world is under lockdown, we are carefully controlling the pandemic while still moving the economy carefully," Jokowi remarked.
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The president later noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had posed challenges and disruptions that had compelled Indonesia and the world to implement new development methods and acclimatize to the new normal.
"We must make the most of this disruption as an opportunity. When the world stops for a moment, we must keep moving forward," he remarked.
According to the latest data from the COVID-19 Task Force, the trend for additional cases of COVID-19 has been apparent from the hundreds of cases in recent weeks, or a significant decline as compared to the addition of tens of thousands of cases at the peak of the second wave in July 2021.
As of December 5, some 196 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported throughout Indonesia, thereby bringing the total count of confirmed cases of COVID-19 since March 2020 to date to 4,257,685.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry's data as of December 5 showed that over 142 million Indonesians had received the first dose of vaccination, or 68.42 percent, and 99 million people had been fully vaccinated, or 47.55 percent.
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Translator: Indra A P, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
