JAKARTA, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- For Indonesia, as with many countries, 2020 has been an extremely difficult year that could not end quickly enough.
The COVID-19 virus has infected more than 700,000 Indonesians.
The pandemic has seriously impacted the economy and people's social lives in the world's largest archipelago.
HARDEST HIT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Indonesia reported 7,903 new daily coronavirus infections on Tuesday, bringing the country's cumulative total to 727,122, according to the country's COVID-19 task force.
Official data also showed 251 new COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities to 21,703.
Currently, Indonesia has the largest number of confirmed cases and deaths in Southeast Asia, according to figures from Indonesian authorities.
The COVID-19 virus spread to the world's fourth-most populous country on March 2, after a dance instructor and her mother tested positive for the virus. By April 9, the pandemic had spread to all 34 provinces in the country.
The country's COVID-19 outbreak is entering the worst month with daily confirmed cases exceeding 5,000 every day in December.
Indonesia had tested almost 5 million people of its 269 million population as of Tuesday, or 17,959 people per million. The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged the nation to perform more tests, especially on suspected carriers of the virus.
The government had approved large-scale social restrictions instead of a nationwide lockdown weeks after the outbreak for some regencies and cities, including capital Jakarta. The measures included closing public places, restricting public transport, and limiting travel to and from the restricted regions.
Starting from late May, the government began to loosen its COVID-19 restrictive measures and restart the economy step by step, a policy that received much criticism amid increasing numbers of cases.
Unfortunately, Indonesia's spread of infection was still high with the positivity rate at more than 13 percent over the past three months. According to the WHO, figures above 5 percent mean an outbreak is not under control.
Almost 10 months into the pandemic, Indonesia's infection curve has never flattened and many think the country is still in what has been dubbed an "endless first wave."
ECONOMY BATTERED
Indonesia plunged into a recession for the first time since the 1998 Asian financial crisis as the COVID-19 pandemic hit consumption and business activity in Southeast Asia's largest economy.
Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 3.49 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, as household consumption and investment fell.
Indonesian's statistics agency data showed some 2.67 million people had lost their jobs as of August in the year due to COVID-19, bringing the unemployment rate to 7.07 percent, the highest level in nine years.
Data also showed the country's poverty rate rose to 9.78 percent from 9.22 percent in September last year, with more downbeat figures expected to follow.
The Indonesian government and the central bank had swiftly put in place the necessary public health and financial policies to support those most affected by the pandemic.
The government set a budget of 695.2 trillion rupiahs (some 47.1 billion U.S. dollars) for COVID-19 mitigation and national economic recovery. It had spent 62.1 percent of the total budget as of the end of November.
Economic activity, however, remains well below its potential and indicators suggest that the growth momentum has slowed since the third quarter. Retail sales and imports of consumer goods have fallen again of late.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said that the government had revised its economic growth forecast this year to a contraction of between 2.2 and 1.7 percent from its previous forecast of between minus 1.7 and minus 0.6 percent.
It's clearly too early to declare the end of the economic crisis in Indonesia just as it is too soon to declare victory over the virus, observers close to the matters have said.
HIGH HOPES ON VACCINES
The Indonesian government pins high hopes on COVID-19 vaccines to end the pandemic, and hopes the country will not have to wait too long.
Almost 10 months into the pandemic, Indonesia finally welcomed 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from China's Sinovac Biotech on Dec. 6 and another 1.8 million doses are expected to be sent to Indonesia by January, followed by raw materials to produce 45 million doses of the vaccine.
President Joko Widodo said that the arrival of this vaccine is good news and raises new hope in dealing with the pandemic in the country, adding that he hopes the national vaccination program will begin in January 2021.
The Indonesian government said the country needs 426 million vaccine doses to create a "herd immunity" against the virus.
Meanwhile, as a country made up of thousands of islands, distributing the vaccines presents a unique challenge, and ensuring vaccines stay at ultra-cold temperatures is another difficult task for a tropical country.
Experts have said it will take at least six months to vaccinate enough people so that social distancing policies can be relaxed. It means for much of 2021, COVID-19 will continue to preoccupy Indonesians. Enditem
