Indonesia now focuses more on health problems: president

JAKARTA - Indonesian President Joko Widodo said here Monday his government should now focus more on efforts to overcome public health problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic than endeavors to recover the economy.

The president ordered the Committee on the Mitigation of the COVID-19 and the Economic Recovery, the Health Ministry, the State Armed Forces and the State Police to focus on the COVID-19 mitigation before the economic recovery.

"It means that we keep focusing on health, namely on the COVID-19 mitigation. It is the key," he told a cabinet meeting at the state palace here.

The economic condition will be good, if the public health condition is ameliorating, he said, underscoring that efforts to recover the domestic economy would much depend on the results of the application of policies on the COVID-19 mitigation.

Data from the COVID-19 Task Force on Sunday showed the number of the COVID-19 cases in Indonesia reached 194,109 with the recovered patients totaling 138,575 and the dead tally recorded at 8,025 people.