President Jokowi: 2 Million Free Medicine Packages To Be Distributed

President Jokowi gave a press statement on the Youtube channel of the Presidential Secretariat which was monitored in Jakarta, Tuesday (20/7/2021) night. (PHOTO ANTARA/Indra Arief)

JAKARTA - To handle the COVID-19 pandemic, President Joko Widodo said the government would distribute two million free medicine packages to COVID-19 patients. This package is primarily intended for asymptomatic patients and mildly symptomatic patients.

"The government will continue to distribute free medicine packages for OTG (people without symptoms) and mild symptoms, which are planned for a total of two million packages", the President said in a press statement on the Presidential Secretariat's Youtube channel monitored in Jakarta, Tuesday night.

The President invited the public to increase discipline in implementing health protocols to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. If people experience symptoms of COVID-19, they are reminded to immediately isolate and get treatment as soon as possible.

According to the Head of State, the ongoing policy for the Implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) must be carried out hand in hand by the entire community so that the number of COVID-19 cases immediately decreases and pressure on hospitals is reduced.

Regarding the time period for the Emergency PPKM, the President emphasized that if the trend of COVID-19 cases continued to decline until July 26, 2021, the government would gradually open a policy of limiting the PPKM provisions.

"If the trend of cases continues to decline, then July 26, 2021, the government will open it in stages", he said.

Reflecting on the implementation of the Emergency PPKM since July 3, 2021, the President said, the trend of COVID-19 cases and the occupancy rate of beds in hospitals has decreased.

"Alhamdulillah, we are grateful, after the Emergency PPKM was implemented, it can be seen from the data on the addition of cases and the fullness of hospital beds", said the President.

According to the Task Force for Handling COVID-19, positive confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia as of Tuesday, July 20, an increase of 38,325 people, while those who recovered increased by 29,791 people. In addition, as of Tuesday, there were 1,280 additional deaths.

With the addition of positive confirmed patients, the number of accumulated cases in Indonesia has reached 2,959,058 people, then 2,323,666 people have been declared cured and 76,200 people have died since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Indonesia in March 2020.