Due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak, Jakarta might either postpone or cancel Formula E. (Image via Sport Tempo.co)

Jakarta: Formula E 'might' be canceled due to COVID-19

Speaker of Jakarta City Council (DPRD Jakarta), Prasetyo Edi Marsudi, urged the Governor of Jakarta, Anies Baswedan, to postpone or cancel Formula E 2020 in Jakarta. The request came up after a case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak emerged in Indonesia.

Jakarta was supposed to be the host of Formula E 2020, using National Monument (Monas) and Medan Merdeka Road as its circuit.

If Jakarta Government remains ignorant, Prasetyo said that DPRD might just reject the budget disbursement for Formula E. Instead, the budget will be allocated to prevent the outbreak from spreading further.

Speaking at the DPRD Jakarta office on Tuesday, Prasetyo said that if Jakarta fails to host Formula E, Anies can look up to what Qatar did when it failed to host the first series of MotoGP 2020 on the upcoming 8 March. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, many major events around the world were forced to be either canceled or postponed.

Regarding the loss, Prasetyo said that Anies can report it to DPRD. But, for now, Formula E in Jakarta is a big “No”. Since human-to-human infection is rapid, Prasetyo pointed out that Formula E also saw a mass gathering of racers and mechanics. That would expose the city to a greater danger of COVID-19 outbreak.

Prasetyo said that Jakarta should put aside its ego to prevent COVID-19 from spreading further. He noted that the upcoming Non-Aligned Movement Summit in the United States was also canceled.

In other words, Prasetyo said that Jakarta should focus on tackling the COVID-19 outbreak. Currently, from 136 suspects, 115 people were declared negative while the rest was still under surveillance.

Source: https://bit.ly/2xbjhch