Jokowi Demands Ministries Work Hard to Suppress Covid-19 Death Rate

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo instructed all his ministers to exert great efforts to reduce the number of deaths caused by Covid-19.

On Wednesday, July 28, Indonesia recorded 1,824 more deaths in a day. The day before, the daily death toll reached 2,069, the highest during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In particular, President Jokowi asked all of us, his subordinates, to work hard to reduce the death rate,” said Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan via his Instagram account @luhut.pandjaitan on Thursday, July 29.

Luhut said his side would continue to increase testing, tracing, and treatment. For treatment, he explained the government had prepared a centralized isolation facility for people who were classified as close contacts of Covid-19 patients. The facility has been equipped with 49,000 beds, medicines, oxygen supplies, and various healthcare facilities.

In addition, he also asked the Health Ministry to cooperate with the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police (Polri) to achieve the Covid-19 vaccination target of up to 2 million doses per day.

“Two million doses [can be administered] in the first week of August. If the doses are enough, I hope it can reach 200 million by December 2021,” said Luhut.

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