A third wave of the coronavirus pandemic has begun to take hold across the country, with the Omicron variant of the virus believed to have driven a surge in cases and hospitalization in the capital, where more than 80 percent of the population has been vaccinated.

Senior minister Luhut Pandjaitan has said that the impending third wave of infections in Jakarta looks likely to peak sometime between the end of February and early March.

The Jakarta administration has said it will administer booster shots for eligible recipients, regardless of their official residency status as shown on their ID cards, as it kicked off the booster shot rollout on Wednesday.

Overhead pedestrian crossings are a common sight in Jakarta, particularly on its main thoroughfares. Footbridges also allow commuters to reach Transjakarta bus stops, which are often on a dedicated lane on the right-hand side of the road.

The expansion of tap water services is seen as crucial to halting land subsidence in the sinking capital, which is primarily driven by excessive groundwater extraction as not all residents have access to piped water.

The government initially planned to impose strict curbs nationwide under multitiered public activity restrictions (PPKM) but rescinded the decision on the grounds that the COVID-19 situation had improved.

The National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) has advised Jakarta-owned bus service Transjakarta to create a unit specifically responsible for setting and maintaining safety standards following a recent spike in crashes involving the city buses.

With La Niña weather phenomenon in full swing and tropical cyclones detected in the wider region, Jakarta is on high alert for the possibility of heavy downpours causing floods.

Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani said on Monday that the organization would file a lawsuit against Anies’ decision to increase the provincial minimum wage by 5.1 percent, rather than the 0.8 percent designated by the central government.

 “We’re thoroughly investigating all of the [Transjakarta bus] accidents and we will publish our findings on Dec. 21,” National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) head Soerjanto Tjahjono said. 

The government has reimposed level-2 curbs on Greater Jakarta as part of its COVID-19 control measures, amid the double threat of a third wave and Omicron over the year-end holidays.

Jakartans have returned with gusto to the city’s public parks, which are now open after months of closure under COVID-19 restrictions, but many are worried about what changes a recently announced period of increased year-end mobility restrictions might bring.

Jakarta disaster agency warns residents of the capital and its satellite cities of possible extreme weather and floods.

Jakarta was awarded the City of Literature designation alongside 40 other cities from 29 countries on Monday, placing it in a global network that recognizes creativity as a major factor in urban development.

Since the government decided to ease community activity restrictions (PPKM) in Jakarta last week, the city has been seeing more commuters return to the workplace. Civil society is now pushing for online taxis to be exempted from the odd-even number plate policy to benefit commuters who do not own private vehicles.

Jakarta, once a hotspot for COVID-19 infections, is now among the first few regions in the country to enjoy the most relaxed set of public activity restrictions (PPKM).

A pair of accidents involving a trial run of Greater Jakarta LRT trains and, separately, two Transjakarta buses has spotlighted safety concerns over public transportation in Jakarta, just as the hustle and bustle of Indonesia's capital returns following a drop in COVID-19 cases.

As part of the Jakarta administration's 'smoke-free Jakarta' campaign, Satpol PP officials are beginning to conduct inspections to enforce the new cigarette display ban, with sanctions also being drafted.

An internal investigation by the Jakarta administration into claims that 25 COVID-19 infection clusters had been found among schools trialing classroom learning reveals that the findings were blown out of proportion.

Anies insisted that the Formula E should be held next year.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, alongside other top-ranking government officials, has been found guilty of negligence for failing to tackle chronic air pollution in Jakarta, the Central Jakarta District Court ruled on Thursday.

Frustrated with repeated delays on the ruling in the Jakarta air pollution citizen lawsuit, a team of lawyers representing the plaintiffs has reported the judges to the Supreme Court supervisory body and the Judicial Commission over alleged ethics breach.

The latest ruling on Aug. 19 voids a previous Supreme Court decision that favored Governor Anies Baswedan's revocation of permits, due to contractual circumstances that the city administration had failed to account for.

The blaze at the Tangerang Penitentiary, just outside the capital Jakarta, broke out in the early hours when most inmates were asleep.

Now that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is intent on continuing his capital relocation project, questions have emerged as to whether the move would actually help Jakarta solve its complex problems.

The ministry has sent a labor inspection team from its occupational health and safety (OHS) division to investigate a recent explosion at the Margo City shopping center.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced on Monday that the government was easing COVID-19 curbs in Greater Jakarta, from level 4 -- the strictest in the four-tiered public activity restrictions (PPKM) -- to level 3, for the first time since the policy came into effect in July.

The blast triggered panic as workers and visitors assumed it had come from a bomb.

The residents of Kampung Akuarium are set to move into their new kampung susun (vertical village) homes starting next week, after the Jakarta governor inaugurated the new buildings on Tuesday.

Jakarta has carried out an exemplary COVID-19 vaccination acceleration since President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo ordered the capital to inoculate 7.5 million out of 10.5 million residents before the end of this month in order to achieve “herd immunity”.