VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stated that the COVID-19 endemic status in Indonesia will be declared soon following a nationwide decline in the number of COVID-19 daily cases and the high COVID-19 vaccination coverage.

After opening the 2023 National Working Meeting on Government Internal Supervision here on Wednesday, the head of state affirmed that the endemic status would be declared in June.

Jokowi remarked that the government was currently finalizing arrangements for the transition from pandemic to the endemic phase.

"We have decided that we are ready for the endemic status, but when the declaration would be? We are now finalizing it first, (and it may be) in one or two weeks," Jokowi stated.

Indonesia's COVID-19 daily case count in recent days only reached 217, and the number of ongoing active cases are at 10,200, he noted, adding that over 452 million COVID-19 vaccination doses had been administered to residents nationwide.

"Hence, in a meeting yesterday, we decided that we are ready to enter the endemic stage," the president remarked.

Earlier, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs Muhadjir Effendy stated that the government concurred with the World Health Organization's (WHO's) decision to declare the end of the COVID-19 global health emergency on May 5, 2023.

Responding to the declaration, the government will finalize its transition plan, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the endemic stage, he affirmed.

The coordinating minister also noted that following the official transition to the endemic stage, the national COVID-19 Handling Task Force would be automatically disbanded.

In future, the COVID-19 vaccine will be administered in a normal vaccination scheme at par with other vaccines, Effendy revealed, adding that the vaccine will be covered by state health insurance company BPJS Kesehatan, primarily for eligible lower-income residents. (Antaranews)