JAKARTA (Antara) – The decision to end the public health emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia rests in the hands of President Joko Widodo, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said.
“After the WHO’s announcement, it will be President Joko Widodo who will decide (whether the state of emergency will be lifted). We will find time later,” he said after launching the overseas fellowship for doctors undergoing special education here on Monday.
He said he is still waiting for the President’s free schedule to hold a dialogue on plans to lift the Covid-19 emergency ahead of the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
Controlling Covid-19 as a Public Health Emergency Presidential Decree of 2020 No. 11 is on.
On May 5, WHO announced that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency, three years after it was declared on January 30, 2020.
WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the decision based on input from the Emergency Committee on International Health Regulation at its 15th virtual meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.
The meeting was held in view of the global epidemic situation in the past year, increasing immunity in the population and declining mortality rate due to vaccination and natural infection.
Meanwhile, there were 17,829 active cases as of May 8, an increase of 1,149 cases, and 21 deaths, based on a report by Indonesia’s COVID-19 Handling Task Force.
The number is below the WHO’s safe limit of eight thousand active cases per day in Indonesia.
In a separate occasion, Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Bambang Soesatyo asked the government to look at the country’s situation while responding to WHO’s move to end the COVID-19 emergency. He added that the number of cases in Indonesia has increased amid the decision.
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