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Curbs drop to lowest level in many regions, but govt says wait and see for future policy
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People sit and relax in a park in Jakarta in October 2021. (Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
T
he government has continued to ease COVID-19 curbs throughout the country but has refuted any plans of scrapping the four-tiered public activity restriction (PPKM) system anytime soon, saying it will monitor the health situation before making any decisions.
In a Home Ministry Instruction published on Monday, the government lowered curbs in all cities and regencies but one in West Papua – Bintuni Bay regency – to level 1, the lowest in the four-tiered system.
This is the first time since the pandemic started that almost all Indonesians are allowed to continue their activities almost similar to pre-pandemic levels, as all public spaces, offices and businesses are now allowed to operate at full capacity under the PPKM level 1 arrangement.
Read also: Govt sticks with PPKM system while loosening curbs
Unlike previous instances, the newest set of coronavirus restrictions will be in effect for the next four weeks – a longer time frame compared to the previous bi-weekly arrangement.
Indonesia has seen a relatively stable trend of new infections, barring a slight uptick in the past couple of days when the country reported more than 500 daily new cases for the first time in the past six weeks on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Health Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril said it was nothing to be alarmed about, particularly as the uptick had not been followed by a significant increase in nationwide positivity rates or hospitalizations.
