Indonesian President Joko Widodo has urged the government to inform the public that it is impossible to completely eradicate COVID-19 despite improvements have been recorded in pandemic control in recent times.

Speaking on the YouTube channel of the Presidential Secretariat on September 7, President Jokowi called on all Indonesians to recognise that COVID-19 will not disappear.

The coronavirus can only be controlled but not completely removed from Indonesia or the world. The Delta variant is still present in Indonesia and if people are careless, the number of COVID-19 infections may surge again, he continued.

In recent weeks, COVID-19 cases in Indonesia have been on a downward trend. According to the COVID-19 Task Force, the Southeast Asian country recorded only 49,753 COVID-19 cases and 3,370 related deaths between August 31 and September 5, down from the respective figures of 71,101 and 4,239 in six days from August 25 to 30.

Source: VNA