TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister Erick Thohir was encouraging the state pharmaceutical industry to conduct research aiming to find the vaccine against the new coronavirus that has emerged in China.

“We push for pharmaceutical firms such as Biofarma to immediately study the virus vaccine,” said the SOE Ministry’s special staffer Arya Sinulingga in Jakarta, Tuesday, February 4.

Arya said that all parties are currently competing to do the research and looking for the cure to deal with the nCoV virus outbreak.

“Who knows there are plants in Indonesia that can be used to treat the [pneumonia-like] disease?” he added.

The SOE Ministry is also calling for state hospitals to anticipate patients suspected to be infected with the Wuhan virus.

Medical centers are also demanded to be responsive in preventing the virus from Indonesia. One of the mitigation attempts is the establishment of the team tasked to quickly identify and anticipate the spread of the virus in all state hospitals.

Erick Thohir also asked all hospitals to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and isolation room facilities for patients with symptoms of coronavirus infection.

Earlier Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said that no country has issued a roadmap or guidelines in light of the virus outbreak thus far. All countries were still waiting and monitoring the effects of the virus and stepping up preventive strategy.

ANTARA