JAKARTA - Indonesia will temporarily stop importing live animals from China to prevent the spread of the coronavirusto South-east Asia's largest economy, chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto said on Tuesday (Feb 4).

As the virus can be spread from human to human and transmitted through wild animals, the government will soon issue a regulation to ban the import of live animals from China, and the rule will be applied retroactively, the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs told reporters after a Cabinet meeting in Bogor Presidential Palace.