President Jokowi Focuses on 3 Provinces Hit Hard By Covid-19

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s raging Covid-19 crisis continues to raise concerns, not least for President Joko Widodo who has decided to pay special attention to three Indonesian provinces particularly hard hit by the pandemic.

“President Jokowi said he will pay particular attention to East Java, South Sulawesi, and South Kalimantan,” said Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy via video conference at the Presidential Palace Monday, June 22. “He is especially concerned about the high daily rate of infections there.”

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Muhadjir added that the president has ordered the authorities to curb the rising number of cases in the three provinces. “The president has called for a number of measures to be adopted, such as the increase of [medical] facilities and their management,” he noted.

Curve for cases continues upwards

The president’s emphasis on East Java, South Sulawesi, and South Kalimantan comes as the number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise in Indonesia.

“The number of Covid-19 cases in Indonesia currently stands at 46,845 following the additioin of another 954 cases,” said Government Coronavirus Task Force spokesman Achmad Yurianto.

“We have reached this figure from testing of 10,926 specimens over that period. The number of deaths now stands at 2,500 after another 35 people died over the past 24 hours.” He added that 18,735 of the cases have recovered from Covid-19.

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Achmad noted that five provinces recorded the highest increase in confirmed cases. East Java remains the hardest hit with 315 new cases, followed by DKI Jakarta with 127, South Sulawesi with 111, and South Kalimantan with 111.