Indonesia Extends Partial Lockdown in Capital to Curb Virus

(Bloomberg) --

Indonesia extended stringent social distancing rules in Jakarta, home to more than 10 million people, as the capital region continued to remain the epicenter of infections in the Southeast Asian nation.

The large scale social distancing measures, which include a ban on gatherings of more than five people, limited public transport services and mandatory work-from-home, were extended to May 22, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said Wednesday. The restrictions, first imposed on April 10, were to end Thursday.

Jakarta and its satellite cities have emerged as the hub of the pandemic in the world’s fourth most populous country with infections more than quadrupling to 7,418 since the start of the month. The outbreak has killed 635 people in Indonesia, the most in Asia after China and India, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

“The key to a successful and massive social distancing is discipline from all stakeholders,” Baswedan said. “We will enforce the rules strictly in the coming days and all those who violate the rules won’t just be warned but slapped with penalties.”

Jakarta, which reported its first positive cases in early March, has been under some kind of social distancing measures for a month now but has yet to see a decline in infections. The capital accounted for 3,383 positive cases and 301 deaths, official data show.

“The implementation of stricter social distancing in Jakarta was not effective as many businesses are allowed to remain open,” said Achmad Sukarsono, a senior analyst at Control Risks. “If it wants to be effective, it needs to have strong enforcement like Singapore or India.”

Burial Protocol

Governor Baswedan said a decline in the number of bodies buried according to the Covid-19 protocol in recent days offered some hope. “Whether this is a temporary thing or not, we have to keep monitoring. Hopefully this is a permanent trend.” he said.

Indonesian authorities have now placed several cities and towns under partial lockdowns to contain the virus with the government warning the worst phase of the pandemic has yet to come. Infections may peak at around 95,000 by the end of next month before starting to ease, according to officials.

President Joko Widodo on Tuesday also banned an annual ritual that usually sees millions of people traveling to their hometowns and village to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr on concern the exodus may spread the virus.

The government needs to extend the social distancing rules across Java, the nation’s most populated island and home to about 150 million people, to prevent the virus from spreading, said Dono Widiatmoko, a senior lecturer at the College of Heath and Social Care, University of Derby.

The social distancing “policy has to be in sync with other regions,” Widiatmoko said. “It has to be implemented to the entire Java island for the measure to be effective, otherwise it will be useless.”

The virus outbreak and restrictions on people’s mobility has already battered Southeast Asia’s largest economy with millions of people being either fired or sent on leave without wages. The government has slashed its growth forecast for this year to 2.3%, less than half the pre-outbreak projection of 5.3%, and unveiled stimulus packages worth $28 billion besides scrapping a budget deficit cap to cushion the blow of the pandemic.

“Governments around the world need to choose between the economy and public health” in fighting the virus, Sukarsono of Control Risks said. “And the ones that choose the latter can flatten the curve while those that are half hearted or fearful of economic consequences usually cannot slow the spread.”

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