The election of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States is expected to bring new direction to the global effort to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, including in Indonesia.
By
AHMAD ARIF
·4 minutes read
AFP/ERIC BARADAT
People celebrate on Black Lives Matter plaza across from the White House in Washington, DC on November 7, 2020, after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election. - Democrat Joe Biden has won the White House, US media said November 7, defeating Donald Trump and ending a presidency that convulsed American politics, shocked the world and left the United States more divided than at any time in decades.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The COVID-19 pandemic, which was caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, has resulted in the infection of more than 50 million people and the deaths of 1.257 million globally. The election of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States is expected to bring new direction to the global effort to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, including in Indonesia.
To handle the pandemic, which has caused the deaths of more than 243,000 people in the US under the Donald Trump’s administration, Biden plans to announce the formation of a new task force today (9/11/2020), which he has said will consist of “leading experts”.
“On Monday, I will announce a group of scientists and experts as transition advisors to help turn the Biden-Harris plan into a blueprint that will be enacted on Jan. 20, 2021,” Biden said.
According to Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Australia’s Griffith University, the election of Biden as the next US president is expected to change the direction of COVID-19 pandemic handling globally. Trump’s leadership, which Dicky considers less scientific and more economic, has contributed to the US’ high number of COVID-19 cases.
Some of the symptoms of Covid-19, as mapped by the United States CDC.
Biden’s victory will have a strong influence on foreign affairs and the global effort to handle the pandemic.
According to the latest Worldometers data, the number of COVID-19 cases in the US has reached 10.185 million and the death toll has reached around 243,000 people, which is by far the highest officially recorded number in the world. Meanwhile, Indonesia ranks 21st and 15th respectively for the total official number of COVID -19 cases and fatalities.
“Biden’s victory will have a strong influence on foreign affairs and the global effort to handle the pandemic. The US will again play a major role in the WHO [World Health Organization],” Dicky said. The US, under the Trump administration, has withdrawn its support for the WHO and has stopped its financial assistance for the global institution.
“I hope that the US, through the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and its other related institutions, will again encourage Indonesia to be more serious in mitigating the pandemic. So far, the US has helped a lot in tackling HIV, tuberculosis and malaria,” Dicky added.
According to Dicky, Indonesia still has a lot of tasks to control the pandemic. Apart from increasing the number of tests and expanding contact tracing and isolation, it is also necessary for the country to establish a larger-scale effort to remind the public to comply with health protocols.
Residents crowd the Gebrak Market on the edge of the Pesanggrahan River, Pesanggrahan, South Jakarta, Sunday (8/11/2020). The public\'s concern for implementing Covid-19 preventive health protocols is getting less every day.
Testing trend
In Indonesia, the increase of COVID-19 cases remains high, with a downward trend in testing. “The majority of people are probably mentally exhausted from facing the pandemic. The people, the government and the health workers are all exhausted. But we cannot give up,” said Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) mitigation team head Adib Khumaedi during an online discussion held by Laporcovid19.org in Jakarta on Sunday (8/11).
Adib added that some health workers were becoming neglectful of COVID-19 protocols. “I remind fellow health workers to keep their spirit and to remain careful,” Adib said.
According to national COVID-19 task force data, there were 3,880 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of infections nationwide to 437,716. Meanwhile, 74 more people have died of the disease, bringing the death toll to 14,614.
The total number of suspected cases stands at 57,043, while only 20,941 people were tested on Sunday. Therefore, less than half of suspected cases were tested.
Number of health workers who die because of Covid-19 per month. Source: Laporcovid19.org
The country’s testing has decreased and is below the WHO’s testing rate standard of one test per 1,000 people per week, or 38,500 tests daily for Indonesia. With the low rate of testing, Indonesia’s positivity rate in the past week stood at 13.8 percent, which far exceeds the WHO standard of 5 percent.
According to Jakarta administration data, 7,090 people tested on Sunday were from the capital. This means that 34 percent of the people tested nationwide were in Jakarta, which highlights the country’s testing disparity. The average number of tests conducted in Jakarta is three times more than the minimum standard.
The WHO reported on Nov. 4 that in addition to Jakarta, the regions that met the minimum number of COVID-19 tests in Indonesia were West Sumatra, East Kalimantan and Papua.
Adib reasserted that the government should focus more on mitigating the pandemic to ensure economic recovery. Testing, tracing and isolation were the keys to handling the pandemic. “The number of victims will increase as cases soar, including victims among health workers. Prevention must be a priority,” Adib said.
