Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, who oversees the government’s pandemic response in Java and Bali, said that the agglomeration areas of Jakarta, Bandung in West Java, as well as Bali and Yogyakarta provinces had all been upgraded to the second-highest restriction level, from PPKM level 2 to level 3 PPKM, for the week ahead.

“This [is] not only because of the increase in cases, but also because of low tracing rates, [the PPKM level in] Bali has also been increased because of a spike in hospitalizations,” Luhut said during a press briefing on Monday.

While Indonesia reported some 26,000 new cases on Monday – a decline from Sunday’s tally of 36,000, the number of new deaths jumped up to 82 from 57 the previous day.

Jakarta remains the largest contributor to Indonesia’s COVID-19 caseload, with more than 12,000 new cases on Monday. Jakarta’s Sunday daily caseload of 15,800 also broke the city’s previous record of 14,600 daily new cases recorded during the outbreak of the Delta variant in July last year.

Bali also recently broke its previous daily caseload record of 1,900 cases in August last year. The resort island, which has just opened its doors to foreign tourists, recorded 2,000 cases on Saturday. 

Bali and Yogyakarta, as well as Jakarta and Banten and West Java, which are host to the cities that make up the Greater Jakarta area, all rank among the provinces with the highest bed occupancy rates (BORs) in the country. 

Sixty-three percent of COVID-19 beds in Jakarta were occupied as of Friday. Bali and Banten ranked second with both BORs at 35 percent, while West Java and Yogyakarta BORs stood at 27 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Although Jakarta, Bandung, Bali and Yogyakarta had their PPKM levels raised, Luhut said that the government had made a number of “adjustments” to the current level 3 curbs.

Whereas previous iterations of level 3 curbs limited the capacity for supermarkets, malls and restaurants to 50 percent, Luhut said that the new capacity limit was now 60 percent. 

Level 3 curbs also previously mandated that public facilities be closed and some art and cultural activities suspended, but the new level 3 curbs allow for public places, as well as art and cultural activities to operate at 25 percent capacity. 

Full capacity in-person learning is no longer an option for schools in areas under level 3 curbs. A joint ministerial decree, signed on Dec. 21 last year, mandated schools to provide in-person learning at half capacity or full distance learning, depending on the region’s vaccination rate.

Critical curb

Experts have welcomed the government’s move to tighten restrictions.

University of Indonesia's School of Medicine professor Tjandra Yoga Aditama said it was clear that the current situation was far different from what it was in January or December. “We can’t afford to stay at PPKM level 2,” Tjandra said.

He added that the government should also be ready to impose even stricter measures if cases continue to rise in the coming weeks.

Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman of Griffith University in Australia, however, urged the government to proceed with caution in applying more lenient curbs than previously.

Dicky suggested that such leniency with regard to premises capacity would only be safe if an area has fully vaccinated more than 80 percent of its population and provided booster shots for 50 percent.

Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Bali have fully vaccinated more than 100 percent of their target populations, while Bandung is at 95 percent. But none of these areas have managed to provide booster shots for more than 10 percent of their populations.

“If [these adjustments] prove too risky, I don’t think the government should allow them,” Dicky said.

Dicky also applauded the government for admitting its lackluster tracing efforts, saying that, aside from mobility curbs, tracing and testing efforts remain “essential” in facing the Omicron variant.

Thinking of the economy 

Luhut said the curb adjustments were as a result of the different characteristics of the Omicron variant compared with Delta, as the government is aiming to keep the vulnerable members of society safe while also keeping the economic harm to a minimum.

“We’ll be monitoring [the new curbs] throughout the week. If the results are good, we will relax the curbs next week, since, frankly, we don’t want [the public] to be afraid and for our economy to be stumped,” the minister said.

Along with the new level 3 curbs, the government is also aiming to accelerate Indonesia’s vaccination efforts and increase the capacity of COVID-19 beds and hospital services, as well as mobilizing isolation centers for asymptomatic COVID-19 cases.

At the same press briefing, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin reported just under 19,000 of the 120,000 hospital beds prepared for COVID-19 patients nationwide have been filled. However, around 10,000 of those beds are occupied by either asymptomatic patients or those showing only mild symptoms.

Budi further reported that more than half of the 58 patients currently experiencing severe symptoms had yet to be fully vaccinated or were unvaccinated. The minister also noted a similar trend with recent mortality cases, with 69 percent of COVID-19 deaths since Jan. 21 involving people who were not fully vaccinated.

Indonesia has so far managed to fully vaccinate more than 131 million people, or 62 percent of the country’s target population, but vaccination for the elderly continues to lag. As of Monday, only 10.5 million senior citizens, or just under half of the target for this age group, were fully vaccinated.

Budi said that full vaccinations, especially for the elderly, were very important. “[Vaccinations] will protect them,” Budi said.

Demand for tighter bans

The central government’s decision to finally raise Jakarta’s PPKM level has come amid mounting pressure for the PPKM system to be reviewed as the level 2 curbs in force in Jakarta were deemed too lenient.

The Health Ministry’s risk assessment as of late last week deemed that Jakarta’s COVID-19 situation necessitated level 3 curbs.

Meanwhile, Jakarta’s satellite cities of Bogor, Depok and Bekasi, in West Java, as well as Tangerang, in Banten, also called for stricter curbs than the level 2 previously assigned. COVID-19 assessments for these cities all pointed to the need for level 4 restrictions.

While the Health Ministry’s risk assessment serves as one of the “main considerations” in assigning PPKM levels, the final decision remains with the national economic recovery and COVID-19 response committee (KPCPEN), according to ministry spokeswoman Siti Nadia Tarmizi.

The lackluster curbs had also resulted in regional administrations, such as Jakarta and Depok city, to become increasingly vocal about the need for tighter curbs as cases continued to rise.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo intervened only last Thursday when he said he had instructed Luhut and Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto, who oversees the government’s pandemic response outside of Java and Bali, to “evaluate” the nation’s regional restriction levels.

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