VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The minister of state-owned enterprises who is also the head of the Covid-19 Task Force, Erick Thohir, revealed that the reason the government not to take a lockdown policy during the Covid-19 pandemic is not merely concerned with the economic sector.

"Lockdown did not lockdown as though it protects economic interests, I don't think so," Erick said in his presentation at the webinar series entitled "Healthy Transportation, Advanced Indonesia" in Jakarta, Tuesday.

Erick explained that no country has a formula for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

"No country has a formula for economic recovery. The formula for each country is very different because this has never happened before. Health affects the business and monetary sector," he said.

Compared to other G20 countries, such as the United States, France, and Italy, Erick thinks that Indonesia still has a very good position.

"If we look at other G20 countries, whether India minus 23 percent, Britain, France, the United States, we are in a very good position. Compared to other Southeast Asia countries, it is also the same as Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and others, "he said.

For that, he said this year we must first focus on the health sector by implementing health protocols, such as wearing masks, washing hands, and maintaining distance.

"If you look at this trend, then this timeline agreed by the committee cannot be reversed. Testing, tracing, treatment is a must," he said.

He hopes that massive vaccination can be started next year, in line with the investment stimulus that will also move.

"If the vaccine is to start early next year, how can economic stimulus investment continue to go hand in hand without forgetting health aid? We hope that later there will be a lot of research stating that next year's economic growth Indonesia can return to positive," he said.

After the Healthy Indonesia goal has been achieved, Erick continued, the next step is Growing Indonesia.

"Number 1 is a priority for a healthy Indonesia. We can't talk about Indonesia growing if Indonesia is not healthy. We are not talking about Indonesia working if Indonesia does not focus on health. Therefore, the people's priority is to be safe from COVID, and of course, health service reform is important,” he said.

Erick considered the COVID-19 pandemic to be an opportunity to reform the health system or transform the economy. (Antaranews)