Currently, there are two diseases that have been accorded an emergency status, the first is COVID-19 and the second is Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), he informed after the “Ministerial-Level Meeting on COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Status and FMD Emergency Status” here.
During Monday’s meeting, it was agreed that the COVID-19 emergency status will continue in Indonesia. The government will monitor the pandemic’s development until May this year and wait for instructions from the World Health Organization (WHO), the minister added.
In May, the Indonesian government will make a decision on whether the pandemic status will continue or whether it will be changed to endemic, he informed.
Meanwhile, for FMD, based on the recommendation from Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo, the emergency status can be ended and changed to “certain condition” or “special condition."
"This is important to sort out the implemented legal umbrella and regulations, especially ones related to the appointment from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency," he said.
At the ministerial-level meeting, participants agreed that a joint task force will be formed in the future to handle both COVID-19 and FMD, Effendy added.
"The joint task force will directly and simultaneously handle COVID-19 as well as Foot-and-Mouth disease to make it (handling) more efficient and coordinated with one another for financing effectiveness," he said.
The last point that was agreed upon during the meeting was that the task force would be on duty until June.
"After June, its urgency will be reviewed again. If it is deemed to still be necessary it will be continued, if not, then it will not be continued while waiting for further regulation," Effendy said.
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Translator: Wuryanti P, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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