JAKARTA: Indonesia’s government is ramping up its Covid-19 (coronavirus) testing capacity and expanding the partial lockdown to areas outside the capital after facing criticism for having one of the region’s lowest testing rates per capita.
President Joko Widodo said the country will increase its testing capacity by 9,000 samples per day while regulators extended stricter social distancing measures, which includes closing offices, a ban on gatherings of more than five people and limiting transportation services to some satellite cities outside Jakarta to contain the spread of the deadly disease.
"I want us to be able to test more than 10,000 on daily basis,” Jokowi, as the president is known, said ahead of a cabinet meeting.The government predicted the pandemic may infect as many as 95,000 people by the end of next month before easing. Jokowi has rejected calls to lock down cities and regions to fight the virus, saying such harsh steps would hurt the poor the most.
Even with the accelerating number of infections, the country has only reported 4,557 cases as of Monday, compared with 4,648 in the Philippines, which has less than half of its population. The country has had 399 fatalities, the highest number of deaths in the region after China, according to the government data.
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