VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) now meets the criteria for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The decision was taken at a meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland last week.

It means that the outbreak  is extraordinary events that threaten public health in many countries due to the global spread of epidemics. It also requires responsiveness and coordination from all over the world.

The same status was set when there were the outbreaks of Ebola, Zika and H1N1 some time ago.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, the number of cases continues to increase, and the existence of evidence of transmission from person to person outside of China is very worrying.

That concern has prompted several countries including Indonesia to evacuate its citizens from the city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected. It is known that as many as 238 Indonesian citizens have been repatriated from Wuhan.

Not only that, there are many countries that have and will stop or temporarily close flights to and from China. The Indonesian government itself decided to close flights to and from China starting Wednesday this week (05/02/2020).

This condition will certainly affect the global economy, including Indonesia. For the moment, the direct impact on the Indonesian economy has not been felt, because there are no export-import restrictions. However, the spread of the corona virus can have an impact on domestic trade performance. This outbreak caused China's demand for exports from other countries, including Indonesia, not develop according to projections. According to Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, in the past, during the Chinese New Year period, demand from China for consumer goods products from around the world would increase. However, this year   the demand did not climb up significantly.

The corona virus outbreak is predicted to greatly affect the aviation, hospitality and tourism sectors. Sadly, those sectors are actually expected to provide a large income in the Indonesian state coffers as instructed by President Joko Widodo to Indonesian Ambassadors and Representatives abroad in the Working Meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs last month.

Hopefully, the corona virus outbreak can be overcome soon, and things will be back to normal again.