Press Statement of President of the Republic of Indonesia on Development of COVID-19 Management in Indonesia, Thursday, 4 March 2021

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

May peace be upon us all,

Om Swastiastu,

Namo Buddhaya,

Greetings of Virtue.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

My Fellow Indonesians,

One year has passed since the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which also occurs in Indonesia. We continue to take numerous measures to overcome the pandemic, and certainly the Government cannot do it alone. We need support and unity from everyone, especially the public.

The Government’s priority since the beginning of the pandemic is obvious. Public safety and health are the top priority. Therefore, the Government continues to take the T3 measure: testing, tracing, and treatment. And the public must remain disciplined in 3M health protocols: wearing a mask, washing hands, and maintaining a safe distance.

Every country is fighting for vaccines. Every country is fighting for vaccines. And thank God because we have taken approaches from the beginning, both from Government to Government (G-to-G) and directly to several vaccine manufacturers, we have now secured 38 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Three million doses of vaccine are ready to use and 35 million are in the form of raw materials for the vaccine. And God willing, on March this year, 4.6 million doses of ready-to-use vaccine from AstraZeneca will arrive. It means that we can accelerate the vaccination process.

And we are aware that the vaccination is under way, prioritizing individuals who are the most at risk. Therefore, the first people to be vaccinated are health care workers, then senior citizens as well as public service officers. Vaccination for teachers, media crews, and market traders have also begun.

The vaccination in Tanah Abang (traditional market) in Jakarta has been carried out. Vaccination has also begun in Beringharjo market and Malioboro area in Yogyakarta province. And we hope that all provinces will follow suit.

Mass vaccination for the Indonesian National Defense Forces and the Indonesian National Police began on 1 March 2021. I have also ordered vaccinations at ministries and it begun on 1 March. For athletes, they have also begun to be vaccinated.

Regarding the vaccination program, I have also reminded and ordered regional governments to be faster, to be more diligent in executing vaccinations in their respective region, so we can achieve herd immunity immediately because vaccination acceleration is the key to control the COVID-19 transmission rate, to control the pandemic.

Therefore, the vaccination must not only be carried out in Jakarta, but it must also continue to be carried out in all provinces, in all regencies, in all cities: in Jakarta, Banten province, West Java province, Special Region of Yogyakarta province, East Java province, Bali province, East Nusa Tenggara province, West Nusa Tenggara province, Sumatra island, Kalimantan island, Sulawesi island, Maluku islands, and Papua island. In all those regions, mass vaccination will begin and we certainly hope it is also supported with a good vaccine distribution.

Regarding the vaccination, to date more than two million people have been injected with the vaccine and 12 million vaccines have been distributed to 34 provinces and 514 regencies / cities. The vaccination target for the period of January to June is 40 million people. And we target one million people to be vaccinated each day so that the vaccination can be finished on time and we can meet the target we have set.

To date, thank God, micro-scale public activity restriction (PPKM) in Java and Bali islands has borne fruit. COVID-19 handling posts at village and hamlet levels have been more active to prevent transmission. Micro-scale PPKM also develops good interregional communication, forging active cooperation between villages and hamlets to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It will be developed in provinces outside Java island that have reported a high number of active cases.

Micro-scale PPKM has shown quite positive results. The number of weekly cases in seven provinces, in Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Banten province, West Java province, Central Java province, Special Region of Yogyakarta province, East Java province, and Bali province, has seen a downwards trend. This is excellent and we hope we continue to work hard, so the downwards trend keeps decreasing more and more.

The decrease and increase in positive cases in the past week also show a better trend, a downwards trend. In January 2021, we reached 14,000 to 15,000 positive cases per day. And in the past week, for example, on 22 February there were 10,180 cases and on 3 March there were 6,808 cases. The number of daily cases, if seen in detail, continues to fall. Nevertheless, once again, we must remain vigilant. We must work hard so the number of daily COVID-19 active cases continues to drop without reducing the number of daily tests.

Indonesia’s active cases as of 3 March 2021 were at 11.11 percent. Meanwhile, the global active cases stood at 18.85 percent, meaning that the number of active cases in Indonesia is lower than the global average of active cases.

The recovery rate as of 3 March 2021 was 86.18 percent, whereas the global rate was 78.93 percent. It means that we are better than the global recovery rate.

As of 3 March, Indonesia’s mortality rate was at 2.7 percent, while the global rate was at 2.22 percent. We need to pay attention to this and we must work hard so that Indonesia’s mortality rate can be below the global rate. However, the mortality rate is much better than the rate at the beginning of COVID-19 management and I suppose our hard work has shown a positive outcome.

Let me also inform you about positivity rate in Indonesia. At the end of January 2021, we were at 36.19 percent, then on 2 March 2021, it dropped to 18.6 percent. We hope it continues to decrease more and more.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

My Fellow Indonesians,

Finally, I appeal to you not to worry about the detection of two positive COVID-19 cases with the British mutation or B.1.1.7. The two people infected with the new (virus) variant have tested negative. And there is no research that has shown that the new variant is more deadly. We have also taken preventive measures against infection from the new virus variant. Therefore, let us continue to be disciplined in observing health protocols as the vaccination is carried out more quickly.

That concludes my speech.

I thank you.

May all of us stay healthy.

Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. (DH/MEP)