Jakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, has affirmed that the government will routinely evaluate the development of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak.

"Every week or regularly, whenever there is a development, a ministerial decree of the Agriculture Minister will be issued and followed up with the issuance of a task force's circular and Home Affairs Minister's instruction to accelerate FMD handling, just like what's done in COVID-19 handling," he explained at a limited coordination meeting for FMD handling on Wednesday.

Hartarto said that besides cattle, FMD has started affecting buffaloes, goats, and pigs. For that reason, the government is accelerating the handling of FMD by pushing the task force to work quickly, expediting vaccinations, and managing livestock movement.

"There has been a Decree of the Chair of the PC-PEN (COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery) Committee Number 2 of 2022 regarding the FMD Handling Task Force," the minister pointed out.

The task force's implementing team is chaired by the head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) and assisted by five deputy chairs from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, the Indonesian Military (TNI), and the National Police (Polri).

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The Ministry of Agriculture has also issued the Decree of Agriculture Minister Number 500.1/KPTS/PK.300/M/06/2022 concerning the Determination of FMD Outbreak Areas, which stipulates 19 provinces as FMD outbreak areas.

The government has also prepared 3 million vaccine doses to curb the spread of FMD.

"There are already 3 million doses of vaccine in Indonesia with a budget that has been prepared. Thus, the existing vaccine doses must be injected immediately," Hartarto said.

The limited coordination meeting on Wednesday also discussed strategies to accelerate FMD vaccinations by prioritizing FMD green zones and community farms, expedite FMD testing, as well as manage livestock movement.

For the FMD handling evaluation, the task force will report daily, weekly, or periodically to the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs and relevant ministers and agency heads, who will then make a report to the President.

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Translator: Kuntum Khaira, Raka Adji
Editor: Suharto
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