Yogi Eka Sahputra, Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has claimed the handling of COVID-19 pandemic in the country had proceeded well.

"The handling is still afoot and under control," said Luhut during Friday's meeting with state leaders and the Committee for the Handling of COVID-19 and Economic Recovery (PC PEN) on the Riau Islands.

Luhut Pandjaitan was directly appointed by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo as the country's coordinator for the handling of the coronavirus pandemic in nine Indonesian provinces.

His appointment came parallel to the spiking number of cases nationwide that recorded (as of Friday, September 25) 266,845 cases, rising by 4,823 cases.

During the meeting, PC PEN head Airlangga Hartarto announced the committee's "national economic programs" (PEN) had spent 30 percent of its budget (Rp254 trillion) to help the middle-to-lower economy class.

The PEN program kicked off in June 2020, which means nearly 40 percent of the program' budget was absorbed in three months and three weeks. The committee plans to finish distributing its total budget of Rp695 trillion to further help the national economy that has been greatly hit by the pandemic.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1390210/luhut-on-rising-covid-19-cases-handling-is-under-control