KOMPAS.com – Jakarta is paying the price of its long holiday weekend earlier this month as new Covid-19 infections have once again surged.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan announced another extension to its transitory large-scale social restrictions until December in light of growing virus transmissions over the past three weeks.
Businesses in Indonesia are increasingly feeling the financial pinch from the coronavirus pandemic based on a survey from the Ministry of Manpower.
Nearly nine out of 10 companies in the country have been affected by the Covid-19 crisis that the ministry attributes to plunging production.
Indonesia officially hit a half-million nationwide Covid-19 infections yesterday, but the government is proceeding with the 2020 Regional Elections which thrusts its younger citizens at the helm of political change.
However, despite various government bodies and institutions preparing for the elections ahead of time, Indonesia’s younger generation knows very little about the candidates that they can choose to put in public office, according to a Change.org survey.
1. Jakarta’s Anies Baswedan Asked to Get Tough on Health Protocols
As Covid-19 cases in Jakarta face a resurgence, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has been asked to take a tougher stance on penalizing health protocol violators in Indonesia’s capital city.
National Covid-19 Taskforce Spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito made the suggestion after Jakarta found itself as the top five regions with the highest number of new Covid-19 cases nationally for three consecutive weeks.
“I am asking for the Jakarta Governor together with law enforcement officials to penalize those who violate existing health protocols.”
Wiku hopes that the past eight months of hard work and dedication in mitigating the Covid-19 virus in the country will not be wasted due to regional governments that have been impatient, reckless, or ignorant about the pandemic.
2. Survey: 9 in Every 10 Companies in Indonesia Incur Losses due to Pandemic
About 88 percent of companies in Indonesia suffered losses in the last six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a survey of the Manpower Ministry showed.
The survey stated that nine out of 10 companies in the country were directly affected by the coronavirus crisis.