Ali Mochtar Ngabalin: The President Continues To Monitor The Development Of COVID-19, His Eye Bags Are Much Thicker

President Joko Widodo (Photo: Twitter @jokowi)

JAKARTA - Main Expert Staff of the Presidential Staff Office Ali Mochtar Ngabalin said that President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) eye bags are thicker than his, even though they are not far apart in age due to lack of sleep.

According to him, this happened because the former Governor of DKI Jakarta continued to monitor the development or situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. He also ensured that President Jokowi would always concentrate fully on dealing with this epidemic problem.

"The president continues to monitor from minute to minute. I know what time the president slept last night, it was none other than (because, ed) monitoring the situation, the president was fully concentrated. Our age is not far away but the eye bags of the president are much thicker," said Ngabali in an online discussion aired on YouTube, Sunday, June 27.

This was conveyed by Ngabalin to answer the statement of epidemiologist from the University of Indonesia (UI) Pandu Riono. In the same discussion, Pandu asked that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic should be led directly by President Jokowi.

According to him, the leadership of one command is better than being led by many institutions as is the case today. "If it is led directly by the president, there will be one command," he said.

Moreover, the public has often been confused by the concept of gas and brakes for handling the COVID-19 pandemic. Where there are public officials who ask for emergency brakes to be applied when the pandemic gets worse, but there are also those who ask for gas to be increased to strengthen the economy.

"(This, ed) continues to fight. People who like to complain about the government's inconsistent policies (then, ed) continue to be baited by Pak Jokowi's critics. So we shouldn't give this kind of bait," he said.

As previously reported, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country continues to increase. In fact, data from the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) on Saturday, June 26, recorded that from 135,634 specimens examined, there were 21,095 new cases.

Today's new cases are the highest number during the pandemic. Previously, the most daily COVID-19 cases occurred on June 24 with 20,574 cases.

"The total accumulation of positive cases since COVID-19 was discovered in Indonesia has reached 2,093,962 people and 194,776 active cases," according to data from the Ministry of Health, Saturday, June 26.

The province with the most new cases is DKI Jakarta with 9,271 cases and a total of 510,667 cases. Followed by West Java which has 3,787 new cases with a total of 364,315 cases. Central Java has 2,305 new cases and a total of 244,241 cases. Then, East Java has 989 new cases and a total of 168,795 cases.

"Positive results per number of specimens examined or this week's positivity rate of 33.3 percent," he wrote.

The number of people suspected of contracting COVID-19 or who are currently categorized as suspected cases, was recorded at 129,071 people. Currently, 510 districts/cities from 34 provinces have COVID-19 cases.