"The president has urged me to consult with the WHO Director General. (The president also) said that there are local policies regarding the ease of health protocols that can be taken," he remarked at the Presidential Palace here on Monday.
According to Sadikin, the WHO is the one with the authority to decide when the pandemic status is eliminated officially.
"(It is) specifically regarding the pandemic because this is global in nature, and later, the WHO will give the timing," he remarked.
The minister also notified reporters that the plan to announce that the public would no longer be required to wear masks depends on President Jokowi's decision.
Earlier, on Monday morning, the president noted that in the near future, the Indonesian government would likely announce that the COVID-19 pandemic had ended.
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"The pandemic, indeed, has started to subside. Maybe soon, we will declare the pandemic is over," President Jokowi stated at the launch of the Inclusive Partnership Movement for Upgrading MSMEs in Jakarta.
The first case of COVID-19 in Indonesia was confirmed in March 2020. According to data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, as of October 2, 2022, the nation had recorded 6,434,585 COVID-19 cases, 6,259,019 recoveries, and 158,132 deaths.
To bolster the people's immune systems, the government launched its nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021, targeting as many as 234,666,020 citizens.
The task force data showed that as of October 2, 2022, as many as 204,605,084 Indonesians had received the first vaccine dose, 171,216,741 were administered the second dose, 63,640,864 had taken the third dose or first booster, and 622,295 had received the fourth dose or second booster.
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Translator: Gilang Galiartha, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
