Government Mass Communication in Asean Countries in Health Services during the Covid 19 Pandemic

The purpose of this study was to determine the role of government mass communication in ASEAN countries in health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an effort to increase awareness of COVID-19, the development of digital-based information is increasingly needed. The public needs credible and reliable information to find out the Covid-19 phenomenon and its various impacts. people are increasingly understanding ways to protect themselves, their families, and the environment appropriately. This will also affect the improvement of public health services by providing good education and guidelines in mass media communication in ASEAN countries, especially in improving health services to the community.


Introduction
The number of COVID-19 cases in the region shows that every country in the region has similar problems. ASEAN, a regional institution in the Southeast Asia region that oversees 10 member countries and was established in 1967, has issued several regional initiatives to deal with the problem of the COVID-19 outbreak that is spreading in the region. One of the initiatives that member countries have successfully agreed on is the COVID-19 Response Funds. However, apart from the initiatives launched by ASEAN, the reality of international relations in the midst of a crisis will have implications for two possibilities, namely encouraging collaboration with other affected countries or actually carrying out restrictions for self-rescue known as mechanisms (self-help). The last possibility has been witnessed by the world today, some countries are restricting essential goods needed in the midst of a pandemic. Tensions between countries will increase and make countries take restrictive steps, this is influenced by the mass media which glorify the situation during the COVID-19 pandemic (Filipova, 2020).
Information is a human need. In the current technological era, various needs for information, education, entertainment, economy and access to knowledge can be more easily accessed by the public through various media (Yusof et al., 2019). This situation is motivated by the movement of change and progress that moves increasingly dynamically. In the global situation of the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, the development of digital-based information is increasingly needed. The public needs credible and reliable information to find out the Covid-19 phenomenon and its various impacts (Falcone et al., 2020). In this way, people will understand more about how to properly protect themselves, their families, and the environment. This will also affect the improvement of public health services by providing good education and guidelines in mass media communication in ASEAN countries.
The government carried out a three-pronged strategy in handling outbreaks in this cluster, namely by implementing a social distancing strategy to suppress the spread of the outbreak, placing medical posts in each dormitory so that migrant workers who experienced health problems could be dealt with immediately, and finally, by implementing an aggressive testing

Challenges for health systems in Asean Countries during a Pandemic
The number of patients who continue to grow, the shortage of personal protective equipment for health workers and limited facilities to provide intensive care add to concerns about transmission in areas that are difficult to control (Patel et al., 2017). The pandemic has put enormous pressure on Indonesia's healthcare system, with reports of inadequate medical supplies and hospital worker deaths as the numbers continue to rise. The hospital crisis looms as experts point out that the combined capacity of the 132 hospitals designated to treat Covid-19 is far from adequate with protective equipment for under-supplied medical workers, and there are only 1,200 lung specialists across the country who are adept at screening. . respiratory disease caused by a virus. In response, the government recently converted four apartment towers from the 2018 Asian Games athletes' village in Jakarta into a makeshift hospital to treat around 24,000 Covid-19 patients. The country also received a boost on March 23 when a military transport plane landed from China carrying medical supplies, following earlier support from Singapore for personal protective equipment.

Figure 1. Covid-19 Cases
In the Philippines, health officials admit limited testing for Covid-19 means that, like Indonesia, its already overwhelmed health system could reduce more infections the numbers show. The Philippine Congress convened a special session to consider expanding the powers of the government, including taking over private utilities, telecommunications and transportation operators or businesses in the public interest, and by forcing hotels and other establishments to accommodate medical workers or those who are quarantined. With the rapid increase in infections in Malaysia, the federal government has designated more than 400 new locations across the country as quarantine zones for Covid-19 patients including state universities, community colleges, training centres, polytechnics and government-owned hotels. Following a strained health care system due to the increasing number of cases, Mercy Malaysia launched the "Covid-19 Pandemic Fund" to support medical services and essential needs of marginalized groups in the country. In Thailand, the government established the Covid-19 Situation Command Center on March 12 in response to the Covid-19 situation, chaired by the Prime Minister. A budget of THB 6.3 billion from the central fund reserved for emergencies was approved on March 17, to mitigate and respond to the impact of Covid-19. This budget will be allocated to Ministries, specifically public health, transportation, higher education and innovation, defense and trade to support their activities. The Ministry of Health has supplied 1,000,000 surgical masks per day to hospitals. An additional 1.5 million N95 masks and 1.9 million personal protective equipment (PPE) will also be allocated. In addition, the Ministry will provide 40,000 Favipiravir pills and 220 doses of Remdesivir for the treatment of Covid-19. Patients with general symptoms of Covid-19 or with a doctor's prescription are eligible for the free test.
Increased policy convergence and a more unified regional response are facilitated by discussions within the context of ASEAN and its existing response mechanisms. High-level ASEAN officials met in early January to prepare for a region-wide response to the rapid spread of Covid-19. According to the post-2015 ASEAN health sector agenda, there are at least seven mechanisms designed to support regional preparedness and response by ASEAN Plus Three.
Since the first report from China of unexplained pneumonia clusters on January 3, the Senior Officials Meeting for Health Development (SOMHD) mobilized these different mechanisms to respond to the pandemic. The ASEAN Network of Emergency Operations Centers for public health emergencies (ASEAN EOC Network) has shared daily situational updates and provided information on prevention, detection and response measures to the ASEAN SOMHD (Plus Three Countries), as well as the Contact Points of the ASEAN EOC Network and Epidemiology Training Network. ASEAN Plus Tiga (ASEAN+3 FETN) Field. The ASEAN BioDioaspora Regional Virtual Center (ABVC) for big data analytics and visualization recently produced a Risk Assessment report for the International Spread of Covid-19 across the ASEAN Region, complementing the national risk assessment.

The Importance of Government Mass Media Communication
The press is urgently needed by the state as the frontline in disseminating information on the handling of the pandemic, the press must be saved in the current crisis situation as a long-term investment for democracy and good governance in Indonesia, the press needs economic incentives from the state to stay alive and carry out its functions properly (Maduro & Kahn, 2020). This situation of uncertainty still overshadows the global and homeland situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so that the government must always be alert and sensitive in anticipating socio-economic vulnerabilities as a result of the pandemic. We know that the economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the government to make various regulations and policies, including launching stimulus policies through the National Economic Recovery program that can have a positive impact on the national economy.