Minister Calls on Regional Heads to Anticipate High Mobility during Long Weekend

Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian delivers a press statement after a Limited meeting on Monday (19/10), at the Presidential Office, Jakarta. (Photo by: PR/Agung)

Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian has ordered regional heads to anticipate people’s mobility during the next long weekend amid concerns over a potential spike in COVID-19 transmission.

For the record, Indonesia will have a five-day holiday from 28 October to 1 November 2020.

“Based on our experiences, long weekend usually brought high mobility. People transports from one place to another, and the mobility can trigger the (COVID-19) transmission,” Tito said in a press statement after joining a Limited Meeting on Anticipation of COVID-19 Transmission during Long Weekend on October 2020, Monday (19/10), in Jakarta.

The Minister also called on regional heads to anticipate people’s mobility through cooperation with Regional Leadership Communication Forum (Forkopimda) in implementing a strict regional defense mechanism which was once applied during Idul Fitri and Idul Adha holidays earlier this year.

Regional-scaled COVID-19 prevention programs, such as Healthy Hamlet/District (Kampung/Kelurahan Sehat) and Resilient Hamlet/Village/District (Kampung/Desa/Kelurahan Tangguh) must be put in place by involving all stakeholders in the regions.

“People entering a region must be encouraged to test for COVID-19. Therefore, they will not become a carrier for the locals,” he said.

He went on to say that regional heads must limit the capacity of tourist destinations which may become a crowd on the holidays.

“Talk to the managers of tourist destinations to prevent massive crowd. They also must disseminate information to the public that the number of tourists must not exceed the capacity, for example, the operation is at 50 percent or 30 percent of capacity,” he added.

Furthermore, Tito suggested that regional heads anticipate other social and cultural events which may attract crowds. He asked regional heads and the Forkopimda to tell the organizers to postpone the events since it can attract massive crowds and potentially lead to an increase in COVID-19 transmission.

He also reminded the public to avoid crowds, adhere to the health protocols namely wearing a face mask, maintaining safe distance, and washing hands regularly.

“For those living in red zones, it is better not to visit your hometown or go on vacation. You can spend the long weekend in your respective regions,” he said, while also calling on people who are planning to visit other regions to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test first and confirmed negative for COVID-19 to curb the transmission to their families and other people. (DND/UN)

Translated by: Rany Anjany
Reviewed by: Muhardi