Indonesia Will Wait for Two Months before Entering Endemic Phase of Covid-19, Says Senior Minister

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesian government’s decision to enter an endemic phase of Covid-19 will be announced in two months when the country celebrates the Independence Day on August 17.

“We will wait for two months. If we can survive in the next two months, it would be considered a gift for Indonesia on August 17,” Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said during a meeting with the House of Representative’s budgetary board (Banggar) on Thursday, June 9.

Luhut said that the government is also closely monitoring the development of Covid-19 abroad. He said that new variants have been detected in the US recently.

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“Therefore, we will not be in a hurry to enter the endemic phase as I reported this to the president last week,” he said.

The government has decided to wait for two months because a higher positivity rate of Covid-19 has been increasing to 500 in the last three days.

“The Covid-19 remains unpredictable. In the last three days, the number of cases went up to 500 from 200-300. I am concerned that the positivity rate has reached 1 percent from 0.5 percent and 0.8 percent, although it is far below the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 5 percent.”

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The government will continue to urge the public to get vaccinated to prevent the number of Covid-19 cases from increasing.

Luhut said the effort to contain the spread of Covid-19 has been quite challenging. However, the community plays vital role in preventing the infections and achieving the endemic phase by implementing strict health protocols.

“We should not be blaming on each other. No one has done better that the others because we can’t control the virus,” he said.

(Writer: Ade Miranti Karunia | Editor: Akhdi Martin Pratama)

Source: https://money.kompas.com/read/2022/06/09/130000826/soal-status-pandemi-ke-endemi-luhut--kita-tunggu-dulu-2-bulan-ini-.