Jakarta – The government has decided to maintain the health emergency status of the COVID-19 pandemic at least until May 2023.
Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy made the announcement on Monday following a coordination meeting joined by Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo and head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Suharyanto.
"For the emergency status of the COVID-19 pandemic we're waiting for new developments until May, when we will learn about the announcement from the WHO," Muhadjir said, referring to the World Health Organization.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo declared a COVID-19 public health emergency in March 2020 over the increasing numbers of infections and deaths across the country.
In the lead-up to that announcement, President Jokowi had instructed his Cabinet to impose stricter rules on physical distancing coupled with "civil emergency policies" in an effort to contain the worsening COVID-19 outbreak.
In October last year, the President ordered Minister Budi to start a consultation process with the WHO before Indonesia could start taking steps to declare the COVID-19 pandemic over.
In his instruction to Budi, President Jokowi asked if Indonesia could soon take steps to ease some of the COVID-19 restrictions based on guidelines provided by the international organization.