Indonesia evaluates large-scale social restrictions

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Photo: Antara)

Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo assessed the implementation of the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) policy to curb the spread of the COVID-19 during a meeting held via teleconference on May 12.

He noted that the results before and after the implementation of the PSBB were varied and differed across four provinces and 72 districts and cities.

Consequently, the number of new cases in regions had decreased gradually and consistently but not drastically, though there were areas where the number of cases had declined but had also not been consistent and still volatile.

Of the 10 provinces with the most positive cases, only three, namely Jakarta, West Java, and West Sumatra, had the PSBB status, while seven others were still non-PSBB. However, those provinces implemented a physical distancing policy and strict health protocols in the people's daily lives.

Data of the Task Force on COVID-19 prevention showed that Java records 70 percent of the positive cases, and 82 percent of mortality.

The president urged the force to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic is effectively brought under control in five provinces in Java, especially in the subsequent two weeks.

During the meeting, he also sought to ease the PSBB in a careful manner and not hurriedly.

Most businesses in Indonesia only have enough cash to continue operating until the end of June, said Sutrisno Iwantono, deputy chairman of public policy at the Indonesian Employers' Association.

Indonesia’s economy expanded only 2.97 percent in the first quarter, its lowest in almost two decades./.