TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in a virtual meeting urged regional leaders to always be reminded of the Covid-19 surge taking place in other countries, such as in India which is unfortunately experiencing a spike in coronavirus cases and devastating the country populated by over 1.3 billion people.

“I remember in January when India managed to reduce their daily active cases to 10,000. But we know there is currently an exponential rise in India that now logs 350 thousand active daily cases. This must be our concern,” said President Jokowi in the virtual meeting on April 28.

He called for provincial, regency, and city leaders to pay close attention to the progress of active cases in the region they lead and conduct swift action to mitigate another potential coronavirus spread.

The President forewarned about the upcoming Eid al Fitr Islamic holiday in mid-May and recalled unfortunate situations that saw four holiday periods followed by sharp increases in active cases.

“Last year’s Eid saw 93 percent increase, the holiday in August caused 119 percent increase, October witnessed 95 percent increase, while the new year’s holiday saw a 78 percent increase in Covid-19 cases. This is why we must remain cautious,” said President Jokowi.

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EGI ADYATAMA