Indonesia Will Begin Two-Week Micro-scale Covid-19 Restrictions Tomorrow

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Indonesian government is set to implement a micro-scale of enforcement of public activity restrictions (PPKM) for the next 14 days as the country's Covid-19 caseload continues to climb and people still get sanctioned for violating the health protocols.

“The Instruction of Home Affairs Minister No. 3/2021 has been issued on late Saturday,” the ministry’s official Safrizal said in a televised statement on Sunday, February 7.

The micro-scale PPKM is scheduled to take place from February 9 to February 22 in various sub-districts/villages in regencies/municipalities throughout Java and Bali, which have recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases. The government has decided to implement this policy after the previous restrictions from January 12-February 8 was ineffective. 

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Once the restriction comes into effect, however, the government will be modifying several rules related to room capacity and business operating hours.

All shopping centers or malls are required to close at 21.00 pm. Earlier, under the previous PPKM measures, malls were allowed to operate until 20.00 pm with 50 percent capacity for offices. 

The affected cities and regencies will be required to resume online learning, limit capacity at religious facilities to 50 percent, and limit work from office capacity to 50 percent with the remaining employees working from home.

Construction sites can operate with maximum capacity but strictly follow the health protocols. Restaurants are allowed to serve takeaway and delivery orders until 21.00 pm but must limit dine-in customers to 50 percent capacity.

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“Meanwhile, activities in public or socio-cultural facilities that could potentially attract crowds will be halted,” Safrizal added.