Indonesia declares financial assistance amid COVID-19 pandemic

Jakarta (VNA)
- The Indonesian government on April 9 announced a plan to support locals affected
by the disruption of operations in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Speaking at a video
press conference, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the government will
spend 3.2 trillion rupiah (210 million USD) on purchasing necessary goods to
provide for about 1.8 million households in Jakarta urban region (including Jakarta capital and its vicinity) for three
months.
A total of 37.2
trillion rupiah will be also distributed to 19 million households living
outside Jakarta region, and 360 billion rupiah to about 197,000 drivers of the public
transport sector.
In the capital city, social distancing
regulations officially took effect from April 9 midnight, and are expected to
last for two weeks or more.
Meanwhile, The Thai government on April 10 morning confirmed 50 new cases of COVID-19 and one death,
bringing the total in the Southeast Asian nation to 2,473, including 33 deaths.
The day before, the government
said 15,000 Thai nationals abroad had registered with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, and were waiting to return home after the country closed its border to
contain the spread of pandemic.
According to the spokesperson
of the Thai government Thaweesin Visanuyothin, more than 10,000 other Thai
citizens are stuck in the Thailand-Malaysia border.
Meanwhile, the country’s Ministry
of Interior announced that three
more provinces namely Chiang Rai, Trang and Krabi have placed travel restrictions from
April 9-30./.