Jakarta – With the national COVID-19 situation continuing to improve, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has said he will consult the with the World Health Organization about the possibility of lifting Indonesia's public health emergency status.
Speaking at a national COVID-19 coordination meeting on Thursday, Budi said he would hold a meeting with the WHO leadership in March to discuss the issue.
"The scale of the pandemic is global, so we need to lobby the WHO. I will speak about this in March, saying the situation is under control in Indonesia," Budi said.
Budi said the government would declare the end of the pandemic through stages of consultation with the WHO.
"There are countries that are in worse shape than Indonesia, but many others have already decided that the pandemic is under control. So, we're going to do this slowly," Budi said.
In October of last year, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo ordered Budi to start the consultation process with the WHO.
The President requested that the country take steps to ease some of its COVID-19 restrictions based on guidelines provided by the international organization.
On Jan. 30, 2020, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared that the COVID-19 outbreak constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).