The government has tightened the restrictions in Greater Jakarta, and Bali to anticipate the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron.
The Greater Jakarta area and Bali would impose level II community-level restriction (PPKM 2) until Dec 13. Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan revealed this on Monday. Luhut is in charge of pandemic handling in Java and Bali.
Under the level 2 restriction, the general work from the offices is capped down to 50 percent for general business. Essential services like telecommunication, logistics, and finance can open the office for 75 percent of their employees.
Markets and supermarkets can also open at 75 percent of capacity. All warungs, restaurants, and malls must limit the number of visitors to 50 percent of capacity and close at 9 p.m. Entertainment and sports activities and weddings are capped at 50 percent of capacity. Public parks are only allowed to host visitors at 25 percent of their capacity.
“We need to be vigilant and on guard by re-implementing the health protocol that has begun to be neglected,” Luhut said after an evaluation meeting about the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Java-Bali region on Monday.
“We must be careful of any indications of an increase in cases and mobility, especially during the Christmas period, so that there are no mass infections,” Luhut said.
The minister said the government tightened the restrictions, hoping that the public would adhere to health protocols to avoid a significant spike of cases similar to what happened last July when cases peaked at over 56,000 fresh cases in a day.