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The 37th ASEAN Summit is taking place in Hanoi online with more than 20 connection points around the world. Indonesia is urging ASEAN countries to finalize an agreement on safe travel corridors in the first quarter of 2021, with Indonesian President Joko Widodo hoping the Summit will issue a declaration on safe travel corridors.
Indonesia proposed the idea of a safe travel corridor last June, and it received support from Thailand and Malaysia, although the rest of the bloc has not yet signaled its support for the idea.
People have their temperature checked before entering a church in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia.
In Southeast Asia, the Covid-19 pandemic situation in Indonesia is the most serious. As of 3 PM on November 12th, according to worldometers, the country ranks 21st globally with 448,118 infections and 14,836 deaths.
The largest economy in Southeast Asia is also seeking to recover from a technical recession, defined as when the economy experiences two consecutive quarters of decline.
A checkpoint in Surabaya
In a statement issued on November 12, Widodo called on ASEAN to establish temporary fast-track priority rules and common health procedures to facilitate the implementation of safe travel corridors between countries, as this would help boost economic activity in the region.
Covid-19 testing in Bali
He said, "People can't wait any longer; they want to see our area revived."
