VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Visitors at last year's Jakarta Fair. (ANTARA)

Jakarta Fair organizers, PT Jakarta International (JI) Expo Kemayoran, have decided to delay convening the annual event after deliberations with representatives from central and provincial governments as well as the police and military.

The decision has been made in view of the efforts mounted by the central and regional governments on a war-footing to fight the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, which has resulted in 399 deaths so far across Indonesia, with Jakarta reporting the highest number of deaths.

"To all Jakarta Fair's participants and people at large, we officially inform that the convening of the Jakarta Fair Kemayoran, which had been scheduled from May 14 to June 28, has been delayed," JI Expo marketing director Ralph Scheunemann said here Monday.

The decision was made after the JI Expo management met with representatives from the central government, Jakarta provincial administration, National Police, and Indonesian Defence Forces (TNI), he informed via a press statement.

Further information on this year's Jakarta Fair, which has become an annual feature commemorating Jakarta's anniversary, would be announced through mainstream media and social media platform @jakartafairid.

"I call on community members not to be worried because the Jakarta Fair Kemayoran is not canceled. It is just delayed. We will provide the latest update if the situation improves," Scheunemann said.

Jakarta Fair Kemayoran is the biggest annual event showcasing Indonesian products from large as well as small and medium enterprises and creative industries. Visitors to the fair are also entertained with live musical performances and food.

Due to the ongoing threat posed by the deadly pandemic, which has spread across all 34 provinces in Indonesia, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has declared it a national disaster.

President Jokowi has accorded national disaster status to the COVID-19 outbreak in a letter (number 12/2020) dated 13 April, 2020, which highlights several points, including the appointment of the head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Doni Monardo, to lead the COVID-19 task force.

The Task Force for the Accelerated Handling of COVID-19 will work on mitigating the impact of the pandemic through coordinated effort with the concerned ministries, government agencies, and regional administrations.

The letter has also named governors, district heads, and city mayors as the heads of the COVID-19 task forces in their respective regions. While drawing up regional policies, they will be required to refer to the policies formulated by the central government.

The national disaster status implies that in the phase of emergency response, the BNPB will use the budget allocated to it by the government.

As of Monday, Indonesia has reported 4,557 confirmed cases, with 399 fatalities and 380 patient recoveries.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported across all 34 provinces of Indonesia, with Jakarta serving as the main hotspot of the pandemic, which first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of December 2019 and then spread across the world. (ANTARA)