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Minister Airlangga criticized for keeping his Covid-19 case a secret

Source
Tempo - January 20, 2021

Dewi Nurita, Jakarta – The actions committed by the Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto by not openly announcing that he had contracted the Covid-19 virus was met with various criticism.

He was only confirmed to have been tested positive for the virus after the minister's spokesperson, Alia Karenina, announced that Minister Airlangga had in-fact been tested positive back in 2020.

This garnered attention and comment from Griffith University epidemiologist Dicky Budiman who asserts that a public official should have openly announced it as their daily work exposes them to meeting a large number of people.

He argues that this would make it difficult to conduct contact tracing to effectively contain a circle of coronavirus transmission.

"Apart from that, public officials should always become a role model for its people, and be open about it so that contact tracing can be conducted," said Dicky to Tempo on Wednesday, January 20.

Unlike Minister Airlangga Hartarto, the first Indonesian state official who contracted the virus, Budi Karya Sumadi, immediately announced it after he tested positive. The similar can be said for Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah who also made a quick announcement as she tested positive for Covid-19.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1424991/minister-airlangga-criticized-for-keeping-his-covid-19-case-a-secre

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