TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD said that Indonesia preferred to impose social distancing over lockdown as he considered it inhuman and ineffective to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

He exemplified lockdown imposed in Italy which according to Mahfud, did not solve the problem.

Since Italy was put on lockdown, Mahfud said, the country still recorded many new patients because its people did not comply with the policy. As of yesterday, a total of 800 people in Italy had died after the isolation, he added.

"So aside from being somewhat inhuman, lockdown is also ineffective in Italy," Mahfud said in a press conference via online broadcasts with reporters on Monday, March 23, 2020.

Another option against the coronavirus outbreak, said Mahfud, was the care immunity measures as applied by England. By this option, people were left to bid for their immunity, which he thought inhuman as well because people were asked to seek their own safety and remedy for the virus.

Therefore, Mahfud MD said Indonesia chose to carry out social distancing. "That is what the government takes to limit social relations unless for urgent purposes. If it is very important, people are urged to maintain the distance of at least one meter and personal hygiene," he remarked.

FIKRI ARIGI