JAKARTA – Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced on Thursday (July 1) emergency measures on populous Java and Bali aimed at controlling the Covid-19 Delta variant amid an unprecedented spike in cases in recent weeks.

“The government will deploy all resources to curb the spread of Covid-19. The military, police , doctors, civil service, medical staff must work as well as possible to combat this,” he said in an Internet broadcast.

The Pemberlakuan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat (PPKM) Darurat, or emergency public activity restrictions, are set to begin on Saturday (July 3) and go on till July 20, the president added.

“This PPKM Emergency will have activity restrictions that are stricter than what we have had so far,” Mr Widodo said.

The new measures will cover 122 regencies and cities across Java, where 60 per cent of the country’s 270 million population live, as well as Bali, the popular holiday island of over 4 million people.

Indonesia has the most coronavirus cases in South-east Asia, exceeding 2.17 million, including 58,000 deaths, so far.

In the last five days until June 30, it has recorded more than 20,000 cases a day, surpassing previous all-time highs in January.

Health authorities have blamed the latest surge on the virulent Delta strain, first identified in India, as well as widespread travel by Indonesians during the Hari Raya holidays in May, or “mudik”.

They now aim to halve the cases to a more manageable 10,000, as the fragile healthcare system struggles to cope and healthcare workers have complained of fatigue and burnout.

Under new mobility restrictions, all non-essential workers must work from home, while up to 50 per cent of those working in essential sectors including  banks, stock market, information technology and communication, as well as hotels must work in staggered shifts.

Malls, places of worship, parks and recreational centres will be shut, and restaurants must not allow dine-in customers and only provide takeaway and delivery services.

Wedding receptions will be limited to 30 guests at most, and no eating will be allowed. Food brought home by guests must be packed in containers with lids.

Grocery stores and supermarkets must follow a daily 8pm curfew, and limit visitors to 50 per cent.

Long-distance public transport services will be allowed to operate up to 70 per cent capacity with strict health protocols in place. Commuters on intercity and inter-province bus and trains must produce vaccine cards showing that they have had at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccines, as well as a negative antigen rapid test result.

Air travellers will also be subjected to stricter measures, but additionally, they must also produce negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab test results.

Workers in the “critical sector”, however, will be exempted from the measures. The newly-created category covers workers in the sectors of energy, health, security, logistics and transportation, foods and beverages, among others, as well as complementary businesses such as grocery stores, construction and utilities. 

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