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Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
Number of positive cases corona virus (Covid-19) in Indonesia, which continues to increase, has caused several countries, such as Malaysia, to ban the arrival of Indonesian citizens (WNI) to its territory as of Monday (9/7).
Several other countries, from the United States, Australia to Austria, have asked their respective citizens to avoid traveling to Indonesia due to the risk of transmission of the corona virus.
As of Tuesday (8/9), the positive cases of Covid-19 in Indonesia have reached more than 200 thousand. Of these, 142,958 people were declared cured and 8,230 people died.
The epidemiologist at the Faculty of Public Health of the University of Indonesia (FKM UI) Pandu Riono said that the phenomenon of rejection of several countries and the ban on travel to Indonesia became the lesson of the government.
Pandu said the government has much to learn and reflect on the control of the pandemic carried out by other countries. According to him, there is nothing wrong with other countries’ steps to prohibit Indonesian citizens from entering their territory.
“So we have been discriminated against and that is allowed. If the language is simpler, Indonesia will be blocked. Since we do not want to block our country, other countries will be blocked,” Pandu said when contacted. CNNIndonesia.com, Wednesday (9/9).
Pandu claimed that the rejection of the arrival of Indonesian citizens by various countries and the ban on entering Indonesian territory were a form of the government’s failure to handle the corona virus pandemic over the past six months. According to him, the government must admit that it has failed to control the virus.
“This incident should make Indonesia introspective, and so far it has not been recognized that we have failed. If we were to admit, ‘Today is still high, we are still failing’ as well,” he said.
In addition, this expert in biostatistics and population also asked the government to cooperate and request assistance to control the Covi-19 pandemic from neighboring countries, especially in ASEAN that were quite successful in overcoming pandemics, such as Thailand or Vietnam.
Pandu said that the rejection of the arrival of Indonesian nationals by various countries would clearly have an impact on the country’s economy. For example, Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) who can no longer return to the country where they work, while those who work in Malaysia are relatively large.
Therefore, he encouraged the government to focus first on controlling the spread of the corona virus and not rush to open up socio-economic activity. According to him, until now the government is still focused on dealing with the economic sector more than on the safety and health of its citizens.
“All the people are encouraged by tourism, the economic stimulus, the narrative is like this. And the justification is that if people do not die of the virus, but of hunger, our people still have enough food,” he said.
In addition, Pandu assessed that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) was right in conveying that health problems were the main thing in the middle of the corona virus pandemic. However, he doubted the government had a strategy to deal with the corona virus pandemic.
“Pak Jokowi’s speech, how is the operation, must be clear. We do not have a strategic plan to face this pandemic. Do not think only about vaccines,” he said.
Mandatory mass test
On the other hand, the epidemiologist at Griffith University, Dicky Budiman, said that the control of the corona virus pandemic only focuses on a dangerous economy and has a long-term impact, especially on the economic recovery of the country.
“The increase in new cases and deaths should not forget that we are part of the citizens of the world. And we cannot ignore this because they will see the performance of Indonesia,” Dicky said by phone.
“How can we be invited to a travel broker, if our control performance is far below global standards,” he continued.
Dicky also asked the government not to be careless in opening up socio-economic activities. Instead of being able to restore the economy, he says, these efforts can prevent a country from returning to “normalcy.”
He said that the most important step the government can take today is to carry out massive checks and contact tracing. When these efforts are carried out optimally, Dicky is confident that economic recovery can go hand in hand.
“There is no other option in the current situation. This is a dilemma situation that we create for ourselves. We have to be sick first, then have fun later,” said Dicky.
(khr / fra)
[Gambas:Video CNN]
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