President Jokowi Calls for Resilience as Delta Variant Spreads Faster

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said the transmission of the Covid-19 Delta variant was getting faster. The variant, in fact, had entered various regions outside Java.

“So all of you have to work even harder, be resilient. In this situation, I'm talking about it as it is, no intention to frighten,” he said amid the launching event of the productive aid distribution for micro-enterprises broadcasted on the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel, Friday, July 30.

Widodo said the government could not predict when the Covid-19 pandemic would end. “The WHO cannot predict it also. Once again, as we always do, we handle the health issues, yet the economic issue is also being dealt with slowly,” he added.

According to the president, the emergency state of the public mobility restriction (PPKM Emergency) and its recent level-based version, or PPKM Level 4, were the best measures applied by the government to anticipate virus transmission, including the more infectious Delta variant.

“We cannot completely close it, enforce a lockdown, like other countries. The Emergency PPKM is a semi-lockdown, and all regions urging it to be lifted. If [we order] lockdown, we can imagine [how the situation will be]. And that does not necessarily guarantee that the problem is over,” the state head explained.

Jokowi thus asked all elements to work even harder and be resilient with all their might albeit the business’ turnover was falling. “We are still striving to vaccinate 70 percent [of the population] that we hope can be reached by the end of this year to achieve herd immunity,” he said.

Related coverage: Eijkman Talks of Possible New Covid-19 Variants

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