VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOI News on Tuesday held a webinar Diplomatic Forum at the Orchadz Industri Hotel Jakarta, themed “Pandemic to Endemic: How the World Can Learn to Live with Covid”.

The speaker panel were including the Ambassador of India to Indonesia, Manoj Kumar Bharti, Act. Director of Health Surveillance and Quarantine of the Health Ministry, Endang Budi Hastuti, Minister Counselor for Tourism of the Malaysian Embassy Junus Suhud, epidemiologist Dicky Budiman, analyst of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Tauhid Ahmad, and former director of WHO Southeast Asia Tjandra Yoga Aditama.

The panels discussed about Indonesia’s readiness to make the transition from the Covid-19 pandemic to the endemic.

Endang Budihastuti said that it is possible to do the transition as the people are vaccinated, however, the virus will never go away.

“Even the descendants from avian flu still exist. The virus is mutating and our immune system continuously learning, gradually the virus only trigger mild symptoms. Omicron variants, for example, have milder symptoms than prior variants.

She also said that there’s a probability that Indonesia will reach the endemic by next year, based on the pattern of previous flu-based pandemics and endemics.

“We can see the epidemiological pattern of Covid-19, which started in 2020, now in 2022, it's weakening. If there is no new variant that is more infectious than omicron, then maybe in 2022 or 2023 we can reach endemic,” Endang said.

Dicky Budiman noted that Indonesia might reach the endemic is possible also due to the support of the government’s handling which is strategic and science-based.

“We’re lucky that our President is taking an approach based on data and science on the pandemic. I observe some other country is rather political in their approach, but it’s not the case for the Indonesian government,” he said.

Ambassador Manoj Kumar Bharti spoke on maintaining and developing the livelihood of the tourism sector amid the pandemic, where he delivered the steps taken by the Indian government.

“Our tourism is badly hit, and to boost it, the government is granting free visas to 500,000 visitors from 2020 onwards. The Finance Ministry of India also gave special relief packages as many as 1 million rupees to the tourism stakeholders and travel guides,” he said.

He advised loosening tourism restrictions and quarantine procedures to attract more tourists to Indonesia.

“I see that the government gave a lot of relief packages to the tourism industry, but restrictions such as having to quarantine for 3 days in hotels could weigh down visitors. Once the restrictions are lifted, Bali will receive lots of tourists including from India,” he said.

Diplomatic forum is presented by VOI News twice a year, where the speakers and participants include ambassadors and embassies representatives, taking on topics that are relevant to current international dynamic and events. (VOI)