Jokowi: Don't Be Too Euphoric as Covid-19 Will Not Disappear Completely

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo reminded the public not to be overly euphoric following the significant drop in Covid-19 numbers in Indonesia. He said the danger might keep lurking if the public is not vigilant.

"Covid-19 cannot be completely disappeared. What we can do is control it. This statement is crucial so that there is no excessive euphoria, excessive joy," said the President, opening the cabinet meeting for the evaluation of public mobility restrictions (PPKM) in a video conference on Monday, September 6.

Based on the data received for the past 3 days, he acknowledged that the daily Covid-19 numbers had fallen far below 10,000 cases. On Tuesday, September 5, the country only recorded 5,400 new confirmed cases. The national hospital bed occupancy rate (BOR) also continued to decline to 19 percent as of yesterday.

Despite the good news, the head of state reminded his staffers and the public not to misinterpret the information. Improvements in various indicators did not mean that people could undergo their activities freely. "Covid-19 is always lurking. The Delta variant is always lurking at us. Once we're caught off guard, it (case numbers) can go up again," he remarked.

Jokowi also highlighted the national number of active Covid-19 cases, which are currently around 150,000. He said this was a better achievement after previously the figure could reach 500,000. "If we continue to do our work consistently, inshallah (if God wills it), by the end of September, we will have [active cases] at below 100,000," he said.

Read: KPU Removes Jokowi's Personal Data from Its Website

EGI ADYATAMA