The Jakarta administration has once again suspended Car Free Day (CFD) amid concerns over public health and safety following reports of dense crowds gathering at the weekly event's reopening on Sunday despite the fact that physical distancing protocols remained in force.

Jakarta Transportation Agency head Syafrin Liputo confirmed that the administration had suspended the event.

“[CFD] on [Jl.] Sudirman and Thamrin is suspended,” Syafrin told kompas.com on Wednesday, referring to the major thoroughfares in Central Jakarta where, under normal circumstances, the event takes place on Sundays.

Separately, Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) head Arifin said the administration planned to use other public spaces, like parks, to accommodate Jakartans accustomed to exercising outdoors on CFD.

“For the time being, CFD on Sudirman and Thamrin is suspended. But there may be alternative spaces […] so people can [exercise] outside of Sudirman and Thamrin,” said Arifin. “We will look for public spaces in the city that can [host] physical activities.”

He said that moving CFD elsewhere would minimize the number of people that could gather in one place at a particular time.

Photographs and videos showed thousands of Jakartans flooding Central Jakarta on Sunday, walking, jogging or cycling down the two streets. The mass outdoor activity during the COVID-19 health emergency raised public health concerns, particularly because Jakarta is the epicenter of the Indonesian outbreak.

The CFD on June 21 was the first since it was suspended on March 15, nearly a month before the capital implemented large-scale restrictions (PSBB) on April 10.

Responding to participants’ apparently lax discipline in maintaining physical distance on Sunday, Prasetio Edi of the Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD) urged the administration to consider suspending the event to minimize the risk of coronavirus infection.

“The CFD a couple of days ago must be reevaluated because Jakarta residents still lack discipline,” Prasetio said on Tuesday.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan previously announced on June 14 that CFD would be revived the following Sunday "for exercise only", and that street vendors would be banned from the event during the transition from PSBB to the "new normal".

By Thursday, Jakarta had recorded 10,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 608 deaths linked to the disease. (rfa)