VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Government of Indonesia on Saturday [14/3 declared the spread of Corona virus Covid-19 in Indonesia as a national disaster. Corona's Handling Spokesperson, Achmad Urianto said that this was declared in response to a letter from the World Health Organization -WHO asking President Joko Widodo to declare a national emergency against Covid-19.

Director General of WHO, Thedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a letter March 10, 2020 urged countries in the world, especially those with large populations and the ability of the health system to be uneven, to focus on case detection and to increase laboratory test capacity.

In areas where Covid-19 is undetected or difficult to detect, WHO recommends applying a national emergency status. WHO also encourages the Indonesian government to keep educating the public and actively informing the spread of Covid-19. The government has also been asked to be more active in finding people with corona virus, tracking people who have been in contact with the sufferers, quarantining and isolating those who have been infected. In addition, WHO also asked President Joko Widodo to add laboratory facilities for checking corona virus cases to detect the emergence of new transmission clusters in Indonesia.

WHO appeals are very reasonable, considering the number of people infected with Covid-19 in Indonesia and the  citizens (WNI) who have contracted COVID-19 abroad. Until Sunday morning (3/15/2020), there have been 96 people who are positive for COVID-19 in Indonesia.

To deal with the spread of Covid-19, President Joko Widodo in a press conference on Sunday afternoon [15/3] asked regional heads from the provincial to regency/city level to coordinate with the Ministry of Health and the National Disaster Mitigation Agency to determine whether conditions in each area categorized as a non-natural disaster emergency response. In addition, the head of state also asked the public to enhance awareness and cooperate so that the handling of Covid-9 can be controlled quickly.

It is obvious that the communities’ involvement in suppressing the spread of the Corona virus is very important. The communities should remain vigilant, maintain personal health and the environment, so that they are not easily transmitted.  By reducing activities outside the house  that are not too important, it is expected that tje spread of Covid-19 could be reduced.