Jakarta extends restrictions for two more weeks

The capital city is extending its transition in the gradual lifting of mobility restrictions, imposed to curb the Covid19 pandemic, for two more weeks.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said traditional markets and train services, in particular, would be operated in accordance to the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) until July 15, according to The Jakarta Post.

Anies said the city administration made the decision after reviewing the situation and to avoid a spike in Covid-19 infections once the restrictions are eased.

“(We) still need to improve the public’s discipline in three aspects: using face masks, washing hands regularly and maintaining a (physical) distance,” he said in a press conference live-streamed on Wednesday.

The PSBB extension is the fourth, the last was from June 4 to June 30, a period described as the city’s “transitional” phase to loosen restrictions.

This is after a review indicated that new Covid-19 cases and deaths had declined.

Anies said the city had achieved a score of 71 in the pandemic indicator designed by a team from the University of Indonesia’s Public Health Department, slightly surpassing the advised minimum score of 70 for relaxing restrictions.

The city administration will deploy military, police and administration officers to supervise the implementation of health protocol at traditional markets and on commuter trains, as those places had become hotbeds of transmission.