President Jokowi Highlights Number of Covid-19 Deaths in Indonesia

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo expressed concern over the Covid-19 death rate in Indonesia as the number of deaths from the pandemic reached 14,044 on Monday, November 2.

“The rate of [Covid-19 deaths in Indonesia] reached 3.38 percent. That is higher than the global average of 2.5 percent,” the President said in a cabinet meeting uploaded on the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel. 

"We have to pay particular attention to [this fact]," he said, noting Indonesia's Covid-19 caseload hitting 415,402 since the first cases were detected in the country on March 2, 2020.

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However, Jokowi noted that the percentage of active Covid-19 cases in Indonesia, which currently stands at 55,792 people, is lower than average around the world.

“The percentage of active [Covid-19] cases in Indonesia stands at 13.78 percent, lower than the average rate of 25.22 percent worldwide. We should put more efforts into reducing this number even further.”

However, Jokowi noted that the rate of Covid-19 recoveries in Indonesia is improving to the point that it is above the global average.

“The Covid-19 recovery rate in Indonesia currently stands at 82.84 percent, better than the global average of 72 percent,” he said, noting the country's total number of recovered patients  reached 345,566.

DOK. covid19.go.id Cover-19 Task Force head Lieutenant General Doni Monardo in a webinar (28/10/2020)

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Covid-19 Task Force chief Doni Monardo agreed. He said that the United States has experienced three waves of the pandemic, while European countries have undergone two.