President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) instructed his staff to prevent the number of cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from increasing during the five-day-long holidays this year, from Wednesday (Oct 28) to Sunday (Nov 1).
"We have experienced this in the past, with a rather high increase (in the number of COVID-19 cases) after the long holidays a month and a half ago (end of August 2020)," the head of state noted while chairing a limited cabinet meeting on "Anticipation of the Spread of COVID-19 During Long Holiday” in late October 2020 here on Monday.
The president warned of ensuring no recurrence of an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases during the long holiday season as had occurred at the end of August 2020.
"Hence, we need to discuss this, so that the long holidays and joint leave activities do not have an impact on the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases," Jokowi emphasized.
Until Oct 18, Indonesia had shown an improvement in terms of handling the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate of active COVID-19 cases in Indonesia has declined to 17.69 percent as compared to the previous month. The percentage of active cases of COVID-19 is lower than the global percentage of active COVID-19 cases, at 22.54 percent.
"In comparison with last month, the average death rate due to COVID-19 in Indonesia had also decreased, from 3.94 percent to 3.45 percent. Once again, it reduced, from 3.94 percent last month to 3.45 percent," he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s current cure rate stands at 78.84 percent or surpasses the average cure rate for COVID-19 patients worldwide, at 74.67 percent.
"I think we should continue to improve on this trend so that the number of cases in Indonesia will continue to decline," he emphasized.
The government declared a joint leave on Oct 28 and October 30, 2020, as Oct 29 is a national holiday to commemorate Prophet Muhammad SAW’s anniversary. Oct 31 is Saturday, while Nov 1 falls on Sunday.
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Editor : Mahdani
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