Gov’t Extends COVID-19 Mandatory Check at Bakauheni Port until 31 May 2021

Chairperson of the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Committee Airlangga Hartarto and Head of the COVID-19 National Task Force Doni Monardo in Jakarta (24/5). (Photo by: Secretariat Cabinet PR/ Rahmat)

The Government has been extending COVID-19 mandatory check at Bakauheni Port, Lampung Province, until 31 May 2021 to control people’s mobility and transmission of COVID-19 after Eid holiday.

The policy must be extended since the number of passengers traveling from Sumatra Island to Java Island only reached 59,967 people while the number of passengers entering Sumatra Island from Java Island during Eid holiday exceeded 400,000 people, according to Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs as Chairperson of the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Committee Airlangga Hartarto.

He added that from the total of 59,967 people taking mandatory COVID-19 tests at Bakauheni Port, 532 people were tested positive for COVID-19. In addition, as many as 156,162 people traveling from other provinces in Java Island to Jakarta have undergone random rapid antigen tests at a number of roadblock points. The tests showed that 1,064 people or 0.6 percent of the total travelers were declared reactive.

“In the meantime, from the total of 340,047 people taking GeNose tests, 6,925 people or 2 percent of the sample were tested positive,” Airlangga said after joining a limited meeting on the handling of COVID-19, on Monday (24/5), in Jakarta.

The Minister went on to say that the Government will continue to monitor the development of COVID-19 cases within 4-5 weeks to anticipate the potential surge of COVID-19 cases after Eid holiday. Based on the national data on 23 May 2021, the number of positive cases increased by 5.2 percent, while recovery rate declined to 92 percent, and mortality rate stood at 2.8 percent. In general, national daily cases of COVID-19 slightly increases at 5,000 cases per day, from the previous 3,800-4,000 cases per day.

“We must monitor the development within the next 4-5 weeks. During the past week, there was an increase in the cases though the number was much smaller than that of last year’s Eid holiday,” he said.

The Government will also continue to impose micro-scale public activity restrictions (PPKM Mikro) policy to monitor new COVID-19 clusters, such as tarawih prayer clusters in Pati, Banyumas, Banyuwangi, and Malang; travelers clusters during mudik (annual exodus before Eid) in Klaten, Cianjur, and Garut; halal bi-halal (post Eid gathering) cluster in Cilangkap; a cluster in a residential area in Bogor; and Hilma Bunker Ship cluster in Cilacap. (DND/UN) (RAS/MMB)