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Dine in or take out?: Officials debate how to curb COVID-19
In a coordination meeting chaired by Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, Anies and Doni highlighted the fact that Jakarta’s satellite cities continued to have lax social-distancing rules while Jakarta had imposed stricter measures.
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Play it safe: People eat at a restaurant in Jakarta on Monday. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants have placed physical distancing signs on tables. (JP/Arief Suhardiman)
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akarta Governor Anies Baswedan and the chief of the government's COVID-19 response task force, Doni Monardo, has called for stricter lockdown rules in Greater Jakarta, as the capital continues to register the highest number of daily cases in the country.
In a coordination meeting chaired by Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, Anies and Doni highlighted the fact that Jakarta’s satellite cities continued to have lax social-distancing rules while Jakarta had imposed stricter measures.
Anies said the city administration’s key decision to only allow restaurants to take takeaway orders could be effective in curbing transmission only if the rule was applied to all municipalities on the outskirts of Jakarta.
"We haven't allowed people to dine in. This may be difficult at first but we have to swallow the bitter pill. But if suburbs allow people to dine in, then Jakartans will go there and there will be little benefit to what we do," Anies said.
Of the 4,284 new infections reported nationwide on Wednesday, Jakarta contributed 1,159 cases, bringing the total number in the capital to 73,736.
Speaking after Anies, Doni said all local administrations around Jakarta should impose policies that would ban dine-ins at restaurants, shopping malls and local eateries.
"My suggestion is that all areas in Greater Jakarta should ban dining in and only allow takeaways," Doni said in the same coordination meeting.
