Indonesia Not Doing Lockdown: BNPB

Jakarta, MINA – The Head of National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Doni Monardo stressed the government will not lockdown in Indonesian territory to avoid the spread of coronavirus or Covid-19 disease.

Lockdown is a term used to describe the situation of locking an area from access in and out of people to and from that region.

“Once again I emphasize the government in this case is President Joko Widodo who has given instructions to the head of the task force, there will be no lockdown,” said Doni in a video recording received on Saturday night.

Some countries such as Italy and Spain have implemented a lockdown policy. Thus, citizens and anyone not allowed in or out of the countries.

Previously, the presidential spokesperson, Fadjroel Rachman, said that the government did not want to implement a lockdown because the public did not need policies that caused a shock effect. According to him, at this time there should be no trial and error policy.

Fadjroel did not dismiss the provisions regarding lockdown as actually being regulated in Law 6 of 2018 on Health Quarantine. However, Fadjroel said Jokowi preferred social distancing policies to respond to conditions that occur due to the current Covid-19 outbreak.

Further, Doni requested that the public comply with government policies related to social distancing. Social distancing is a term so that residents keep a distance from each other at least 1.5 meters. Residents were asked not to gather in large numbers.

“If this can be obeyed, God willing, we can reduce the people who are exposed,” he said. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)