Sri Mulyani Says All Countries Are Not Ready To Face A Pandemic: The Impact of Socio-Economic is Inevitable

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani said that the rapid and widespread spread of COVID-19 had significant consequences for all countries in the world. According to her, no nation has prepared itself for a pandemic.

"When viewed from the timeline of the spread of COVID-19, this makes all countries in the world not in a position to be ready to face health challenges and threats, as well as the consequences for socio-economic activities that are truly extraordinary," she said in a national seminar broadcast virtual, Thursday, October 21.

The Minister of Finance stated that at the beginning of the spread of the corona virus, the global situation was filled with considerable uncertainty. The reason is, the world community does not yet know how to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as a cure for this disease.

As a result, the social restriction scheme became the first way to prevent a more massive spread.

“COVID-19 is very easily transmitted and there is no cure or vaccine at that time. Thus, requiring all countries to carry out so-called restrictions on people-to-people gatherings. This method is believed to be able to minimize the transmission of the virus to spread," said Sri Mulyani.

For information, the journey of COVID-19 into a pandemic began when on December 31, 2019, China warned WHO regarding the discovery of pneumonia cases that became a cluster in Wuhan. These symptoms were later identified as the novel coronavirus.

On January 11, 2020, WHO responded and responded that what was happening in China was a serious health problem. This global organization then the disease as COVID-19.

Then, on January 13, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 outside China occurred in Thailand. Then, on January 30, 2020, WHO increased the status to a world health emergency because more people were infected in various countries.

In Indonesia, the first case occurred on March 2, 2020, when President Joko Widodo announced that two women from Depok, West Java were positive for the coronavirus.

After that, on March 11, 2020, the WHO international health agency declared COVID-19 as a pandemic that is endemic throughout the world.