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Java regions invite tourist, vow to keep COVID-19 at bay, for long weekend

A long weekend from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 is expected to see many people out and about.

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, October 26, 2020

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Java regions invite tourist, vow to keep COVID-19 at bay, for long weekend A member of a joint security team checks a car on Jl. Raya Puncak in Gadog, Bogor regency, West Java, on Oct. 3. The Bogor regency administration, in cooperation with the National Police and the Indonesian Military, has set restrictions for tourist areas to avoid the emergence of new COVID-19 clusters, as a long weekend from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 is expected to see many people out and about. (Antara/Yulius Satria Wijaya)

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egions across the archipelago are gearing to welcome tourists for a long weekend at the end of the month while keeping the coronavirus at bay.

Thanks to public holidays, many people will have five days off, from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1, and not all will stay at home.

Safety measures in crowd-drawing activities are deemed essential to avoid another surge in COVID-19 cases, as new virus clusters commonly appear after public holidays.

Bogor Regent Ade Yasin said the regency limited the number of people at tourist destinations to 50 percent of the respective site’s capacity.

“We need to closely monitor the implementation of the capacity restriction, which is set at 50 percent,” Ade said on Saturday as quoted by antaranews.com.

According to a Bogor regency decree, the regency allows natural and non-natural tourist destinations to operate with certain limitations, including in the number of guests, during the pandemic.

The decree also limits operational hours for non-natural and/or outdoor tourist destinations to between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., and caps the number of participants in crowdpullers, receptions or meetings at a maximum of 150 people. 

Therefore, if a tourist destination operator holds a festival, the event can only be attended by 150 participants at most.

Ade went on to say that it was important that all parties fully comply with the strict measures, because visitors tended to flock the regency’s tourist spots in the highland area of Puncak, for example, during long weekends.

“Everyone needs to restrain themselves. It takes both the government and the public to work on this, so we won’t have new COVID-19 clusters in the future,” said Ade, who heads the Bogor regency’s COVID-19 task force. 

Meanwhile in Central Java, the administration has prepared monitoring posts at several tourist destinations.

The sites are Tawangmangu waterfalls, Bandungan district and Semilir village in Semarang regency as well as the attractions of Belik and Owabong in Banyumas, the Dieng highland on the border of Wonosobo and Banjarnegara, Sikunir Mountain in Wonosobo and Arjuna Temple in Banjarnegara.

Central Java Transportation Agency head Satriyo Hidayat said the administration was working with the Central Java Police, who would deploy to the said destinations to monitor people’s movements.

“We’ve also closely liaised with the Wonosobo regency administration to implement measures aimed at avoiding road accidents.

“We’ve ordered any big tourist buses going to Dieng to park at Mendolo Station, because the road is tricky, and drivers who are not familiar with it will have trouble handling their vehicles,” he said on Saturday as quoted by kompas.com

In East Java, Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa reminded the public to comply with COVID-19 health protocol throughout the holiday period.

“Please, continue to practice [caution] wherever you are,” she said.

As of Saturday, East Java has logged 50,653 COVID-19 cases with 44,665 recoveries and 3,647 fatalities. West Java has registered a cumulative 33,568 cases with 22,676 recoveries and 668 fatalities, while Central Java has counted 31,586 cases with 25,968 recoveries and 1,665 fatalities. (nkn)

 

Editor’s note: This article is part of a public campaign by the COVID-19 task force to raise people’s awareness about the pandemic.

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