When Anies spoke openly about the Covid-19 data that was hidden from the start

YAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The DKI Jakarta (Pemprov) provincial government claims to have started monitoring and tracking potential Covid-19-related cases since January 2020, or two months before the announcement of the first positive Covid-19 case presented by President Joko Widodo on March 2, 2020.

On the occasion of interviews with Australian media The Sydney Morning Herald and AgeJakarta Capital Governor Anies Baswedan was bold about the steps taken by the DKI Jakarta provincial government to trace the Covid-19 case and his opinion that he disagreed with the central government.

For the two foreign outlets, Anies claimed to have started anticipating Covid-19 since January 2020, after learning of the case of a new virus in Wuhan, China.

Also Read: For Australian Media, Anies Claims It Has Tracked Covid-19 Since January 2020

In fact, at that time, he still knew Wuhan disease by the name of Wuhan pneumonia.

“We started holding meetings with all the hospitals in Jakarta, informing them of what was then called Wuhan pneumonia, when it was not yet called Covid,” Anies said in the article. The Sydney Morning Herald which was published on May 7th.

Anies has repeatedly made similar statements at various meetings and press conferences with the national media.

One of them was when he announced that learning activities at the school were temporarily suspended on March 14, 2020. At the time, he emphasized that he had been tracking Covid-19 cases since January 2020.

“In the DKI Jakarta provincial government we anticipate the spread of Covid-19 from January,” Anies said at the time.

Anies made a similar statement again during a video conference with Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin on April 2, 2020. He relayed the steps taken by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government to anticipate the Covid-19 case from early January.

Also read: Anies calls Jakarta Genting because Corona continues to prepare for Formula E

“When the problems started to arise in China at that time, in Jakarta we immediately took the step of talking to the administration of the hospitals in Jakarta. At that time, we socialized about the symptoms and prepared all the health centers in Jakarta to know what do if they found out patient, “he said.

An example of the Covid-19 case tracked by the DKI Provincial Government is the first positive Covid-19 case. At that time, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government listed all the cases that were monitored.

Anies aired that when speaking to Deddy Corbuzier uploaded via Deddy’s YouTube account on March 27, 2020.

“The President announced that there were two first cases. The two cases actually occurred in Jakarta. The KTP was Depok KTP, but the interaction occurred in Jakarta and was case it’s been monitored by all of us, “Anies said.

Confused by the attitude of the central government

The anticipatory move by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government is actually at odds with the attitude of the central government.

Anies claimed to be confused with the attitude of the central government, in this case the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, which stated that a positive case of Covid-19 had not been found in DKI Jakarta in the period January-February 2020.

In fact, at that time, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government had data on the existence of the Covid-19 case in Jakarta.

Despite having different views, Anies still asked her staff to report on the progress of the Covid-19 case, which began to escalate in the period from January to February 2020.

Also read: Anies reveals confusion about Covid-19 data: wants to be transparent, but the Ministry of Health does not want