History today, six years ago, April 22, 2020, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs (Menkopolhukam), Mahfud MD denied that the government was slow to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. Mahfud revealed that the government had anticipated the corona virus from January 2020.
Previously, the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic brought a commotion throughout Indonesia. The number of infections increased sharply and the death toll was high. The government was also accused of not being serious about anticipating the spread of the corona virus.
The whole world was panicked by the presence of the corona virus. The virus from Wuhan is considered to have begun to spread throughout the world. One by one, countries began to reveal that the corona virus had been detected in their country since the beginning of January 2020.
Not a few countries have immediately taken the policy of quarantine (lockdown). This policy was taken in order to break the chain of transmission of the corona virus. Uniquely, not all countries immediately panicked. Take Indonesia for example.
Many state officials have revealed that the corona virus does not need to be feared. The corona virus is even equated with the common flu. There are also those who think that the corona virus will not be able to spread in tropical areas like Indonesia.
Comments with a tone of underestimating the corona virus appear everywhere. However, they are all silent when the corona virus was just detected entering Indonesia in March 2020. The presence of the corona virus brought panic everywhere.
The government was also considered slow in detecting the entry of the corona virus. As a result, the transmission of the corona virus became uncontrollable. Moreover, Indonesia is considered late in closing flight routes to and from China.
"When did this virus enter Indonesia? Not in March when the president reported that the family was positive. In fact, local transmission has already occurred, there are already people under surveillance (ODP) in the area. In fact, we assume that the virus has been circulating since the third week of January. So this is a local case, not an imported transmission. "
"This is what we observe, every infected case can transmit 2-3 other people. That is double the average of five days, from 10 to 20, 40, and so on. This is what makes the pandemic difficult to suppress because the transmission of the corona virus is so devastating," said a staff lecturer at the Faculty of Public Health (FKM) of the University of Indonesia (UI), Pandu Riono as quoted by lamandetik.com, April 19, 2020.
Criticism of the government continues to flow. However, Mahfud MD appeared to defend the performance of the Jokowi government on April 22, 2020. The Minister of Home Affairs considered that the government had been quick to anticipate the entry of the corona virus into Indonesia.
Mahfud said the government had anticipated the entry of the corona virus since the beginning of January. This effort was carried out by limiting flights to and from Beijing, China. He also emphasized that the government immediately picked up Indonesian citizens who were in Wuhan - the center of the corona virus.
The government has also begun preparing a hospital for COVID-19 patients. A series of things were considered by Mahfud as a government anticipation step. Even though the defense did not make all Indonesians satisfied with the government's way of dealing with COVID-19.
"At the end of January 2020 we decided to close flights between Beijing and Jakarta. Try to see the news around January 27, 28, 29, there was an announcement that our government was serious about closing flights with Beijing, until Beijing protested because Indonesia was quick to close to prevent the entry of the virus. "
"In early February 2020, the government decided to build a special hospital at that time. Or a month before the disease was officially found in Indonesia, we had established a special hospital because we were serious," said Mahfud as quoted by lamankumparan.com, April 22, 2020.
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