He will have a meeting this afternoon.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Minister Arifin Tasrif -- who earlier underwent self-isolation for a week -- has now recovered and returned to work.

Head of the Communication, Public Information, and Cooperation Bureau of the ministry Agung Pribadi noted that the minister will chair a meeting on Monday afternoon.

"The minister is completely healthy and able to actively return to work. He will have a meeting this afternoon with the secretary general and the director general of Oil and Gas of the ESDM Ministry as well as the Special Task Force for Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (SKK Migas)," he noted here on Monday.

Pribadi remarked that on January 31, 2022, the ministry had informed Commission VII of the Indonesian House of Representatives that the minister had been conducting self-isolation since January 30, 2022.

Hence, the ministry urged the commission to reschedule their working meeting.

Earlier, Investment Minister cum Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia was appointed by President Joko Widodo as the ad interim ESDM minister, as stated in a letter of state secretary minister dated February 3, 2022, a special staff of the Investment Minister Tina Talisa stated.

An ad interim minister is one concurrently holding the position of another minister, who is temporarily absent due to illness or overseas work.

As the ad interim minister, Lahadalia’s first task was chairing a meeting with all first echelon officials of the ESDM Ministry on February 4, 2022.

Pribadi noted that the appointment aimed at maintaining the main tasks and functions of the ministry to run properly.

However, Pribadi and Talisa did not elaborate on the reason behind the appointment of the investment minister as an ad interim minister or the self-isolation conducted by the ESDM minister.

Meanwhile, Indonesia is recording a surge in the number of daily additional COVID-19 cases. The number of confirmed cases increased by 36,057 on February 6, 2022.

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Translator: Sugiharto Purnama, Uyu Liman
Editor: Sri Haryati
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