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The First Spread of COVID-19 infection in Asia

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The World announced their very first COVID-19 case on December 26th 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province in China.

COVID-19 virus rapidly infected people and soon the existence of the virus was reported in countries all over the world.

By the time it was happening, there was no response made or actions taken by the government of Indonesia.

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COVID-19 hit Indonesia quite late compared to the other Southeast Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

On January 23rd 2020, the China government set up a lockdown policy in Wuhan.

On January 27th 2020, Indonesia's President made an announcement that Indonesia was free from COVID-19 and set up a travel warning to Hubei province in China.

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Evacuation of Indonesian people from Hubei Province, China in February 2020

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Evacuation of Indonesian people from Hubei province in China was initiated by the Indonesian government.

On February 2nd 2020, a total number of 238 Indonesian people were evacuated from Hubei province and the government banned all travelers coming from China by February 5th 2020.

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Previous Health Minister of Indonesia responded to public interviews regarding COVID-19

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On February 11th 2020, the Minister of Health (MoH) of Indonesia claimed that Indonesia was COVID-19 free, discrediting a research published by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health regarding the existence of undetected COVID-19 cases in Indonesia.

A few political figures mentioned that Indonesia is safe from COVID-19 and several jokes with irrational reasoning were thrown all around the country, saying COVID-19 cannot infect Indonesian people because of the complicated bureaucracy to racial, religious and even paranormals superiority that the country has.

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The first two COVID-19 patients interviewed in national TV

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On March 2nd 2020, Indonesia confirmed its first two positive cases of COVID-19. Their recovery was overly celebrated and was broadcasted in national TV.

The "joyous" moment did not take long due to the rapid multiplications of positive cases and deaths caused by the virus.

These findings then led to contact tracing regulation and more cases were further discovered.

By March 30th, the government announced a total number confirmed cases was 988.

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Special Task Force for Countermeasure against COVID-19 (Gugus Tugas Percepatan Penanganan COVID-19) Indonesia

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COVID-19 Special Task Force in Indonesia

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COVID-19 Special Task Force in Indonesia

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The government finally responded to the situation and a special task force for countermeasure against COVID-19 (Gugus Tugas Percepatan Penanganan COVID-19)was formed through a presidential decree on March 13th, 2020.

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Indonesia's first electronic health alert card (eHAC) mobile application

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The Ministry of Communication and Information in Indonesia launched its very first mobile application named eHAC in March 2020.
The purpose of the app was to trace and track COVID-19 confirmed or suspected cases.

The news was not properly welcomed by the public. It pushed the government to finally made eHAC as one of the travel requirement so the public would download and use the app.

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Situation at a traditional market in Indonesia

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The concerns regarding "lockdown" which already established in several countries were raised among the public in early April of 2020.

The negative on the economic impacts were the main reason that led the government of Indonesia to refused the idea of total lockdown.

Early responses from the government:

March 17th: Released COVID-19 health protocol including expansion of travel restrictions to many countries.

March 18th: Published COVID-19 official website

March 31st: A total budget of 405trillion IDR was relocated for COVID-19 from different sectors to COVID-19 aid with the largest share set into economic recovery programs.

April 5th: Mandatory face-mask regulation were established to be obeyed in all public areas, including personal vehicles.

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Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia announced COVID-19 as a National Disaster

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On April 13th 2020, Indonesia's president declared COVID-19 infections as a national disaster.

It was released in a Presidential Decree that contains 4 main points:
1. COVID-19 is a national disaster
2. The countermeasures of COVID-19 will be handled by COVID-19 special task force (Gugus Tugas Percepatan Penangan COVID-19)
3. All regional leaders should follow the national guidelines
4. It is to be effective immediately

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Situation of a mall located in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia during April 2020

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A Large social restriction known as PSBB (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar) was enforced in the whole country by the government by mid of April.

Public places like schools, offices, and religious places were closed down, public transportations and even flights were also restricted.

Malls, grocery stores and restaurants were allowed to open with restricted hours, limited number of visitors, and dine-in was forbidden.

Travel restrictions from selected localities were also set up and a 14-day quarantine regulation for international travelers was established.

The government also required a negative-result of COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for all travelers who travel by air (domestic and international).

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Numbers of people tested positive with PCR from March 2nd to April 29th 2020

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In the early days, the number of tests performed in Indonesia was quite low when compared to other countries.

On March 19th 2020, there were only 35 referral laboratories with testing capability for COVID-19, adding the numbers to around 3,500 tests performed each day.

With a large number of populations and negative PCR result regulation for travel, the number of tests performed was very inadequate.

These pushed the Ministry of Health to keep on increasing the number of laboratories with a capability of performing the tests. By April 29th 2020, there were 89 laboratories verified.

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Local authorities investigating large "suspicious" vehicles at a check-point

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As the largest Muslim-population country in the world, the country has an annual post-Ramadan mudik (exodus).

This tradition was seen as a threat in public preventive measures and the government opted on banning all travel (land, sea and air) except for logistic and health related transport from April 24th to June 15th.

A result survey from The Ministry of Transportation showed that 68% of the people decided to not do the mudik, 24% were still insisted of going and 7% had actually completed the journey before travel was banned.

With a quite large percentage number of the people who were still insisted on going (mudik) regardless the travel banned, the government finally set local authorities to established some check-points along the roads.

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Following the Large-scare social restriction (PSBB), Indonesia progressed to PSBB-transition and after a "New Normal" began.

The "New Normal" approach which later re-named as adapting to new habits includes wearing mask, physical distancing, washing hands regularly and avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth.

The first phase of the "New Normal" was adapted in Jakarta on June 5th with opening of commerce and restaurants. Restaurants were allowed to serve limited number of dine-in guests.

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Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in one of the hospital in Indonesia

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A month following the Ramadhan, the number of COVID-19 cases were spiking, resulting in overload of the hospitals.

There were no available beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) across the hospitals and emergency department was turned to mini ICUs, as there were a lot of patients experiencing respiratory failure and need to be intubated.

Number of deaths caused COVID-19 kept on increasing and befalling healthcare workers.

The public weighed the chaotic situation on the incapabilities of the Health Minister (Terawan Agus Putranto) to deal with COVID-19 pandemic and he had failed trying. The public also demanded him to resign from his position.

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Budi Gunadi Sadikin. The new Minister of Health of Indonesia appointed in December 2020

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On December 22nd, 2020, President of Indonesia Joko Widodo appointed Budi Gunadi Sadikin as the new health minister of Indonesia.

The decision made by the president was questioned and criticized especially among the healthcare professionals as Mr. Budi was a banker and did not have a health/medical background.

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Joko Widodo, the President of Indonesia receiving the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine

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The first vaccination entered Indonesia was Sinovac Biotech's CoronaVac vaccine which manufactured in China.

As per January 6th, 2021, 3million doses has arrived in Indonesia. The government was ready to distribute the vaccines to all 34 provinces in Indonesia. On January 11th an emergency use authorization of the vaccine was issued by Indonesia's Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM).

The president of Indonesia became the first person to be vaccinated on January 13th 2021. He mentioned vaccine as a game changer. It was broadcasted in all national TV channels as a safety reassurance of the vaccine for the public.

Looking at the large number of the population in Indonesia, the number of vaccination supply was not enough. The vaccination program then was split into four phases, with a prioritization made by the government:

1. Healthcare workers

2. Public servants

3. High-risk Indonesia citizen (Geriatric, aged >65 y.o)

4. Other citizen of Indonesia

Everyone who has been vaccinated then received a vaccine certificate as proof of vaccination which was later used as a "ticket" for travel purposes.

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Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities (Pemberlakuan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat, PPKM)

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Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities (PPKM)

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Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities (PPKM)

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The number of COVID-19 cases continue to increase as the vaccination program progresses.

The government tried to deal with the increase number of cases by implementing a new measure called Pemberlakuan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat (PPKM) or Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities on January 11th 2021.

On January 16th 2021, the number of COVID-19 in Indonesia has reached a total of 1 million cases with an average of 11 thousands new daily cases confirmed.

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Government poster prohibiting post-Ramadan travel (mudik) in 2021

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The rapid growth of number of positive cases was believed to be caused by the new variant of COVID-19 strain (which later named as delta variant on May 31st 2021).

The researcher claimed that this variant grows more rapidly and more infectious than the previous strains which leads to more hospitalizations and deaths.

With the awareness of the new variant and a rapid progression increase on positive COVID-19 cases and deaths, the government responded by once again banned the post-Ramadan travel (mudik) in 2021 from May 6th to 17th.

The public did not properly accept the government decisions and many insisted on keep on going (mudik) despite the warnings

Evaluating the inadequate measure taken on the previous year, the government then forced to take tougher decision by banned all the public domestic flights during the period.

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Emergency Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities (PPKM-Darurat) on Java island and Bali

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Emergency Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities (PPKM-Darurat)

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Emergency Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities (PPKM-Darurat)

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Disobedience of the population caused a surge by 381% in number of COVID-19 positive cases. The number of positive cases has multiplied twice in just 5 months, from 1million on January 16th to 2millions cases on June 21st 2021.

Hospitals were completely occupied every where and number of deaths caused by COVID-19 were continues to rise. Many patients were dying inside the emergency departments before properly admitted to the inpatient departments.

The government imposed a new emergency regulations, named PPKM Darurat (translates into Emergency Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities). It was first implemented in Java and Bali, the two most populated islands in the country, starting on July 3rd to July 20th 2021 and later expanded to other islands.

It restricted all non-essentials factor to implementing work from home regulation, drives educational institutions to conduct online-based learning, and prohibit restaurant to provide on-site dining services.

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Emergency tent for COVID-19 Patients in Indonesia

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On July 15th 2021, Indonesia hit an all time high number of new daily cases reported. A total number of 56,757 new confirmed cases was reported on that day.

By 22nd of July 2021, Indonesia already had 3million of COVID-19 cases and hospitals' situations had not yet been improved. Hospitals started to build emergency tents to treat COVID-19 patients. Indonesia had at leas lost 1,545 healthcare workers in battling with COVID-19 infections since March 2020.

It pushed the government to prolong the Emergency Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities (PPKM Darurat).

These situations brought negative impact on Indonesia's economic situation. Indonesian currency (IDR) dropped to its lowest point against US dollar in a month.

To deal with the situation, a 4-level of Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities (PPKM 4-Level) was introduced. The restrictions were varied depending on the assessment of number of weekly confirmed cases, treatment and bed occupancy rate in each region.

Indonesia government also pushed the vaccination program in every region.

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Peduli Lindungi mobile application established by the Ministry of Health of Indonesia

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Peduli Lindungi mobile application was the second application made after eHAC which was first introduced in March 2020.

The application was first released for public usage around June 2020 and kept on upgrading its functionality.

As per August 28th 2021, Peduli Lindungi app had became one of the main application for people who live in Indonesia.

The application stores vaccine certificates and COVID-19 test results. Hospitals and clinics in Indonesia are obliged to report and upload the COVID-19 test results to the application. It became one of mandatory travel conditions.
It also connects to a telemedicine services.

Every person need to have the application on their mobile and do a check-in before entering public places like malls, shops, restaurants, etc. by scanning the QR-codes of the places with the application and shows the result to the guard. Only when the indicator is green that the person is allowed to enter the place.

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COVID-19 Omicron Variant discovered in Indonesia

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After several countermeasures taken in battling the virus finally Indonesia could see a decrease in daily new cases of COVID-19. It was seen from August 2021 until December 2021, with daily new cases under 2000.

During the period of time, the booster dose of vaccination started to be administered among healthcare workers and the public vaccination programs were still on going.

On December 16th, 2021 the Omnicron variant of COVID-19 was first reported in Indonesia.

By February 23rd 2022, Indonesia was hit with a new record of 61,488 daily new cases, followed by a death toll of 147,025 people.

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Off Face mask regulations in open-air spaces

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On May 18th 2022, Indonesia's president Joko Widodo lifted the mandatory use of face mask in open air spaces.

The decree resulted in various propaganda and received some conflicting comments from the country's epidemiologist, but the citizen seemed to be relief by the news.

In transition from pandemic to endemic, COVID-19 test (PCR or Rapid Antigen) was no longer a  mandatory requirement for travel purposes if the person had completed the initial vaccination and received at least the 1st dose of vaccine booster.

More than 45 million people in Indonesia had received the 3rd dose of vaccine (1st booster) by the 30th of May 2022.

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President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo officially lifted the Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities from the country

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Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities was Lifted

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Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities was Lifted

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On December 30th 2022, the 4-Level Enforcement of Restriction on Community Activities was officially lifted from the country by President Joko Widodo.

He claimed Indonesia as one of the country that has successfully managed the COVID-19 pandemic.

People are no longer restricted to hold a large gatherings but still encouraged to wear face mask in public places and transportations.

The claim was made based on the last December 27th 2022 report with a total daily COVID-19 case was 1.7 per 100,000 population, followed by 3.45% weekly positivity rate, 4.79% hospitalization rate, and 2.39% death rate.

Despite that, the Health Emergency Status (Presidential Decree 11/12 2020) is maintained, following the PHEIC (Public Health Emergency of International Concern) status from the WHO World Health Organization as the pandemic has not ended completely and countries need to be anticipating the probability of a new wave in the upcoming future.