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Indonesian celebrities raise money to fight coronavirus
Indonesian celebrities are raising funds and donating money to help address the coronavirus outbreak.
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Indonesian celebrities Rachel Vennya and Nikita Mirzani have raised money and donated their own funds to help those impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. (Shutterstock/narin chauhan )
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everal Indonesian celebrities are raising funds and donating money to support those affected by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.
Social media influencer Rachel Vennya started an online fundraising campaign on Kitabisa.com on Tuesday.
According to her fundraising page, Rachel’s concerns grew as she heard about the increasing number of confirmed cases in Indonesia.
She specifically mentioned people who had been unable to work from home, especially those working in the healthcare and informal sectors, such as hospital staff and vendors at traditional markets.
Rachel hoped to collect Rp 500 million (US$32.771) in 76 days. In five hours, she had collected more than Rp 414 million.
Since then, Rachel has increased the target to Rp 2 billion and, as of the writing of this article, she had gathered more than Rp 2.2 billion in funds from 55,048 donors.
“I’ve already started the campaign; I hope other people will also do the same,” she wrote on Instagram. “It’s because we’re working together to fight against the disease.”
The money will be used to provide face masks, hand sanitizer, rubber gloves and other protective items for those who work in healthcare and informal sectors.
On her Instagram stories, Rachel has shared updates about the campaign. She said she would donate the money to Persahabatan General Hospital in East Jakarta, Fatmawati General Hospital in South Jakarta and Cengkareng General Hospital in West Jakarta.
Read also: COVID-19: The twists and turns of working from home
On Tuesday, actress Nikita Mirzani announced on Instagram that she would donate Rp 100 million to help prevent the spread of the pandemic. The donation is part of her celebration of her 34th birthday, which fell on March 17.
“I hope the disease can be contained and that people will be able to return to their normal activities,” said Nikita before encouraging other celebrities to follow her path in helping those affected by the virus.
As of Wednesday, the number of coronavirus cases in Indonesia had reached 172. A number of museums, offices and schools in the country have been closed to contain the spread of the disease. (wir/wng)
