Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the government was focusing on reducing COVID-19 infections while racing to vaccinate Indonesians as quickly as possible.

Luhut has been tasked with coordinating the government’s new policy, dubbed emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM).

“It is impossible to open [Bali to foreign tourists] again with this Delta [variant]. So we’re not thinking about it anymore,” Luhut told reporters during an online press conference on Thursday.

Luhut declined to explain whether his statement meant the plan to reopen the island to foreigners had been postponed or cancelled altogether. When pursued for clarification, a visibly annoyed Luhut replied, “Answer that question yourself!”

A second wave of COVID-19 has struck Indonesia over the past few days, resulting in a surge of new daily cases, peaking at 24,836 on Thursday. Medical workers and health facilities are overwhelmed as the hospital bed occupancy in Jakarta and West Java exceeds 90 percent of capacity, while signs have emerged of a shortage in oxygen supplies.

The hike in cases was largely caused by the Idul Fitri holiday, which traditionally sees millions of Indonesians travel out of major cities to their hometowns for family gatherings. The arrival of the Delta variant has exacerbated the situation.

Prior to the implementation of emergency PPKM, the country announced plans to reopen Bali to foreign tourists in July of this year, more than a year after the island’s closure as a result of the pandemic. The plan, announced by the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, was aimed at reviving the economy of a province that relies on tourism for more than 54 percent of its economic activity.

In a statement on Friday, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno backed the emergency PPKM. The ministry has instructed all tourist destinations in the region to work to quell the pandemic.

On top of that, Sandiaga postponed his plan to reopen Bali to foreigners. Other tourism-related programs, such as the Work from Bali initiative, the plan to make Bali a vaccine tourism destination, travel corridors and numerous tourist events across Indonesia have also been postponed.

“We must fully support the efforts to tackle COVID-19 so that we are under one command,” Sandiaga said.

To alleviate the impact of the restrictions on the travel industry, Sandiaga promised to expedite stimulus spending. He said more than 3.4 million Indonesians depended on the industry.

He also encouraged tourism and creative economy entrepreneurs to take advantage of digitalization to support their livelihoods during the pandemic.

“[This is] not only about selling on online platforms but also about creating creative content,” Sandiaga said.

Cipta Gunawan, an expert staff member for Bali Governor I Wayan Koster, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the postponement would definitely have an adverse impact on the region, as Bali would have to wait longer for its tourism rebound, given that most of the island’s tourists came from overseas.

For now, he said, Bali would focus on alternative options, such as attracting domestic visitors, whose number had increased over the past few days to more than 9,000 per day.

On top of that, he said, Bali was trying to capitalize on a government policy that still allowed foreigners to conduct essential business trips. The policy has also been used to enable tourist visits to Bali.

“We are trying to [arrange for] direct flights from abroad [into Bali], including the quarantine, so that foreigners do not have to enter Bali via Jakarta,” Cipta said.

“Our lobbying with the central government is continuing,” he added.

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