TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Democrat Party deputy chairman Syarief Hasan suggested the government steps up its coordination and takes real efforts in handling the coronavirus pandemic.

“WHO declares this disease as a global pandemic, so I think more real actions must be carried out by the government,” said Syarief at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday, March 12.

Syarief compared the efforts taken by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo with those of the country’s sixth President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) in dealing with a pandemic.

Back in 2006, SBY issued a presidential decree No. 7/2006 on the national commission on avian flu control and pandemic preparedness.

According to Syarief, the formation of the national committee succeeded to handle the pandemic in Indonesia. “But now, there is no real action yet,” he added.

The Democrat politician asserted that the government must be careful since the pandemic affected the national economy. He agreed the government was still concerned about the economy. However, intensive mitigation of the coronavirus pandemic is necessary, he underlined.

He voiced an example that the U.S. President Donald Trump barred entry from Europe amid the virus concern. “Our country has vast lands with a huge population. So if there is a virus infection from aboard, it must not be detected during the monitoring, and I think this requires evaluation,” Syarief said.

Indonesia now has 34 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with seven of them are classified as imported cases. Recently, Case 25 reportedly died in the isolation room due to disease complications.

BUDIARTI UTAMI PUTRI