The Handling Of The COVID-19 Pandemic Must Be Balanced, Jokowi: Don't Just Talk About The Economy Without Looking At Health

President Joko Widodo (Photo: RI Cabinet Secretariat)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) asked all parties to remain vigilant and pay attention to the economy and health at the same time. He reminded that no party should only focus on one sector in the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

This was conveyed when he opened the VIII National Conference of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, Wednesday, June 30.

"Don't be careless, everyone must be vigilant. Don't just talk about the economy, economy, economy but don't look at health. But don't look at health, health, health but don't look at the economy. Both must go hand in hand," Jokowi said as quoted from the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic was a difficult time not only because of health problems but also for the business world, the economy, and the global economy.

Moreover, recently there has been an increase in COVID-19 cases in the country due to the Eid 1441 Hijriyah holiday and the entry of new variant viruses from other countries.

"Let's see the development of active cases in Indonesia. ... At that time, our cases were early February, early January our cases rose to 176,000 active cases. 176,000 active cases," he said.

Jokowi said that active cases had dropped to 87,000 on May 18. However, once there is a holiday, namely the Eid al-Fitr holiday, the increase in cases again occurs.

"Once there was a holiday, yesterday's Eid holiday plus a new variant, today we will increase it. The jump has more than doubled to 228,000," said the former Governor of DKI Jakarta.

"This is what I say we must be careful. We must remain vigilant and not be careless. We must continue to study this newspaper because we cannot only work on the macro, but we must know the micro details," concluded Jokowi.