COVID-19 Surge: SOE Minister Assures Availability of Antiviral Drugs

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Amid a spike in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections, State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister Erick Thohir has assured that Indonesia has sufficient stocks of antiviral drugs produced by pharmaceutical SOEs.

"Oseltamivir, a drug which is produced by Indofarma, the stock is still sufficient," he said during an online press conference originating from Jakarta on Monday.

Thus, there is good availability of antiviral drugs, he added.

"As for the drug Favipiravir, or previously popular with the name Avigan, the stock after checking, where this drug is produced by Kimia Farma, is still in good stock condition," the minister informed.

Though stocks of Remdesivir are rather limited at this time, the ministry is hoping to procure the drug again this month to ensure its availability, he added.

The availability of the antiviral drugs can provide stability, he remarked.

"Of course, we are also working on how, like Oseltamivir and Favipiravir, we can produce our own Remdesivir drug. God Willing, in September we will obtain a license so that we can take care of our needs," Thohir said.

Indonesia added 12,906 coronavirus cases on Saturday (June 19, 2021).

Since March, 2020, the nation has so far recorded as many as 1,976,172 cases.

On Sunday (June 20, 2021), Jakarta’s daily COVID-19 count breached a new record with the addition of 5,582 cases.

Based on data provided by the Jakarta provincial government on the corona.jakarta.go.id page, with the new cases, the total number of positive COVID-19 cases in Jakarta has jumped to 474,029 cases from 468,447 earlier.

Also Read: Indonesia COVID-19 Cases Surpass Two Million with 14,536 New Cases Today

ANTARA