Luhut's New Authority: Curbing COVID-19 Spread in Nine Areas

The government has formed yet another team to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. After creating the COVID-19 Task Force, the COVID-19 Mitigation and National Economic Recovery Committee (PCPEN), two other task forces, and a team to manufacture vaccines, President Joko Widodo assigned Luhut Pandjaitan in a new role. The Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister will oversee the COVID- 19 mitigation in nine provinces with the highest COVID-19 tally.

The appointment allows Luhut to team up with Doni Monardo, the COVID0-19 Task Force chief, to oversee the progress of the COVID-19 mitigation in Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Bali, North Sumatra, and Papua. Luhut also asked regional heads to crank up the COVID-19 mitigation attempt. “I ask each province to sharpen its strategy. The job description must be clear - who does what, and we will deploy all the resources we have,” he ensured.