Published on : Saturday, May 2, 2020
The Governor Anies Baswedan said the Jakarta administration was preparing a directive to limit the number of people entering the capital city, the country’s coronavirus epicenter, after the Ramadan and Idul Fitri holiday season.
This year, the holiday of Idul Fitri will begin on the evening of May 23.
Anies said during a press briefing, Jakarta residents are advised not to leave the city to return to their hometowns, as urged by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. If anyone leaves the city, they may not be able to come back soon.
After initially advising residents against participating in “mudik”, the government officially banned the homecoming tradition for this year on April 21 in an effort to limit the spread of deadly coronavirus.
The civic authorities reported that the traffic on toll roads throughout Greater Jakarta, including those leading to and from the city, had reduced, although some travelers still managed to leave the urban area by hiding in trucks or bus luggage compartments to pass through checkpoints undetected.
Jakarta has prolonged large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) until May 22. The policy allows the administration to suspend the operation of schools, places of worship and workplaces, with exemptions for essential sectors.
While claiming that PSBB had effectively reduced the spread of the virus in the capital, Anies urged citizens to remain vigilant as Jakarta was still seeing new cases daily.
The provincial administration of Jakarta will distribute social aid packages ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr to “more than 1.2 million families. These will be in addition to the central government’s food aid.
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