Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Tuesday declared a national public health emergency over the coronavirus pandemic and steps to help low-income people.
"The initiatives included extending social security, food assistance and granting discounts and exemptions to electricity tariffs," he said.
It is worth mentioning that Indonesia's foreign minister said on Tuesday the government would ban all arrivals and transit by foreigners in Indonesia as the number of coronavirus cases and deaths rise.
This comes a day after Indonesian Widodo said that he planned stricter rules on mobility and social distancing after a report showed more than 140,000 people in the Southeast Asian country could die in the pandemic.
"Foreigners with residence visas and some diplomatic visits will be exempted from the ban," foreign minister Retno Marsudi said, adding that the government aims to issue the regulations for the ban on Tuesday.
"The government will also strengthen screening for Indonesian nationals returning to the country," she said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic as the new virus has rapidly spread to more than 121,000 people from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.
According to the organization, the number of COVID-19 infections outside China has doubled in the past two weeks, and the number of countries hit by the epidemic has tripled.
“We are very concerned to achieve the alarming levels of the outbreak and its severity, as well as the alarming levels of inaction,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva.
More cases of the virus, which causes respiratory disease COVID-19, continue to emerge, with outbreaks in South Korea, Italy, and Iran.
Transmission of virus between humans happens when someone comes into contact with an infected person’s secretions, such as droplets in a cough.
Follow the latest news on Google News
