The Indonesian Ulema Council Asks The Government To Firmly Take Policies For Handling COVID-19

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) encourages the government not to hesitate and be more assertive in taking any policies to handle COVID-19. Moreover, the current rate of transmission of the dangerous virus has skyrocketed.

"We call on the government to be more firm in taking policies to stop the spread of COVID-19", said MUI General Chair Miftachul Akhyar, quoted by Antara, Friday, June 25.

He said the uncontrolled spread along with the discovery of a number of virus variants in several areas, caused a high number of new cases and many victims who could not survive.

Even the number of COVID-19 transmissions in Indonesia touched the highest increase on Thursday with 20.574 positive confirmed cases. He said, there need to be serious joint steps from every component of society to stop this condition.

"The government must immediately take strategic steps to overcome the impact of the pandemic that is more in favor of the wider community, especially the poor", continued Miftachul.

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of MUI Amirsyah Tambunan stated that it was necessary to have a common view regarding the red zone. MUI has long interpreted the red zone as an area where the handling of COVID-19 is out of control.

But in the field, he said, there are still parties who do not understand the dangers of the red zone, even accusing them of not having COVID-19. Therefore, it is necessary to have a uniform and complete understanding of interpreting the dangers of the COVID-19 red zone.

"I call on the COVID-19 Task Force team to have the same perception. We need to strengthen our understanding in order to enforce health protocols. So this is where provincial and district/city Task Force coordination is needed", said Amirsyah.