How Indonesia Copes with Coronavirus Disease 2019 So Far (Part One) The Country, the Government, and the Society

As feared, the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) finally reached Indonesia. The government declared that on March 26, the number of people infected with Covid-19 reached 790. Looking back, the first suspected patient was identified on March 2, 2020. Moreover, by March 19, as many as 17 provinces in Indonesia have been affected by Covid-19. The next day, Indonesia’s death toll from Covid-19 soared to 32, the highest in Southeast Asia at the time. As one of the world’s most populous countries, Indonesia is right to be alarmed by any people-to-people transmitting disease, and Covid-19 is not an exception.