FILE PHOTO: Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo attends an ASEAN leaders summit with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in Bangkok, Thailand November 3, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered ministers in his cabinet on Wednesday to use “whatever means” necessary to ensure the country’s infection curve of the coronavirus outbreak goes down in May, to reach a low in cases by July.
“I ask that you exert all of your energy and concentrate on efforts to control COVID-19 and its impact,” Widodo said during a cabinet meeting broadcast by media.
Widodo also ordered ministers to ensure economic stimulus went to sectors that had suffered the greatest contraction, based on first-quarter data on the gross domestic product.
Reporting by Maikel Jefriando; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Ed Davies and Clarence Fernandez