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Greater Jakarta tightens COVID curbs
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he government has put Greater Jakarta under tighter pandemic restrictions after the area became the center for the recent spike in COVID-19 infections, while keeping most of the rest of the country at the lowest level of curbs.
In a new Home Minister instruction, signed by Minister Tito Karnavian on Monday, Jakarta, along with its satellite cities of Tangerang and South Tangerang in Banten, as well as Bogor, Bekasi and Depok in West Java, has had its public activity restrictions (PPKM) level raised to level 2 for the next four weeks.
Meanwhile, all other cities and regencies across the country, aside from Sorong regency in West Papua, are maintained at level 1 restrictions – the most lenient set of curbs in the four-tiered system.
Despite the decline in the past few days, Indonesia recorded around 13,400 confirmed COVID-19 cases last week – a 9 percent increase from the week before that with 12,300 cases. Fatalities also rose by 6 percent last week to 32 cases from 30 deaths a week previously.
Jakarta alone contributed 7,390 cases, 55 percent, of the 13,400 cases over the same period.
Under the PPKM level 2 arrangements, essential and non-essential office buildings in Greater Jakarta are now allowed to operate at only 75 percent capacity, down from the previous full capacity arrangement.
Hotels, shopping centers, restaurants, cinemas, supermarkets and traditional markets have also dropped down to 75 percent maximum capacity. The same also applies to houses of worship, public parks and public facilities, as well as wedding receptions.
But, construction work, public transportation and offices in the critical sector are still allowed to operate at full capacity.
The COVID-19 daily caseload fluctuated over the weekend with 2,300 cases on Thursday, 2,000 on Friday, 1,700 on Saturday, 1,600 cases on Sunday, 1,434 on Monday and 2,577 on Tuesday. Jakarta contributed 1,276 to Tuesday’s caseload.
Manageable spike
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government was confident that the recent wave of cases, fueled by highly contagious Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, would be fairly limited compared with previous waves.
Budi also attributed the relatively stable COVID-19 situation to the fact that around 99 percent of the population in Java and Bali already have some form of immunity against the coronavirus, either through infection or vaccination, according to a government survey conducted in March.
"Although cases have generally been rising, we have started to see a plateau. We are currently nearing the peak of the BA.4 and BA.5 wave, but our daily new cases are only 4 to 5 percent of the peak of the Omicron-fueled wave earlier this year," he said.
Previously, Budi said that based on the government's epidemiological modeling, the current surge was expected to peak in the second or third week of this month. The minister also predicted that daily new case numbers during this time could reach 20,000, roughly 30 percent of the Omicron wave’s peak of around 60,000 daily cases.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, meanwhile, has not had much to say about the stricter restrictions in the capital. The provincial administration is notably still holding the Jakarta fair trade expo – an annual event held to coincide with the city’s anniversary – at least until July 17.
"I will first communicate with the central government," Anies told reporters on Monday when asked for his response to the new curbs.
