Jokowi To His Minister: Do Not Lose Enthusiasm In Dealing With The COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo asked his ministers and staff to consistently face the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. He ordered his staff not to relax their efforts to deal with the health and economic crisis that occurred due to the pandemic.

Moreover, currently, the number of COVID-19 cases in the world is still increasing. Based on the data he obtained, there have been 15.8 million people who have contracted this virus and 640 people have died worldwide.

In the United States alone it has reached 4.2 million, in Brazil it has reached 2.3 million, in India it has reached 1.4 million. Therefore be careful. Be very careful, "said Jokowi when opening a limited meeting of 'Briefing to the Committee for Handling Economic Recovery and Handling COVID-19' which was conducted online and broadcast on the YouTube account of the Presidential Secretariat, 27 July.

"Do not let the aura of crisis disappear, the spirit to handle the crisis is lost or decreased," he added.

This crisis aura, continued Jokowi, may be relaxed when the vaccine against COVID-19 is available and can be used by the public.

Furthermore, Jokowi wants the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) building at the central or regional levels, as well as other offices related to the COVID-19 Task Force, to look really busy. So, it looks like officers are really on standby to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia.

In addition, he also denied the issue of the disbandment of the COVID-19 Task Force, both at the central and regional levels. According to Jokowi, the change from the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 to the Task Force for COVID-19 aims to integrate health policy with economic policy.

"I need to emphasize that there is no such thing as the dissolution of COVID-19 at both the central and regional levels. Everyone must keep working hard," he concluded.