Jakarta to Ease Social Curbs While Indonesia Cases Stay High
Jakarta Eases Social Distancing Curbs as Virus Cases Stabilize
(Bloomberg) -- Indonesia’s capital will ease strict social-distancing curbs starting Monday, as Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said the increase in coronavirus cases there has stabilized, while the number across the country remains near record levels.
Jakarta brought back stronger restrictions last month, as its health system was becoming overwhelmed. The city’s transitional phaseout of the curbs will run from Oct. 12-25, according to a statement from the local government. People can return to offices and dine-in restaurants as long as the capacity is limited to 50%, while gyms, cinemas and tourism sites will be allowed to operate at a maximum 25% of capacity.
“What happened in the past month was an emergency brake policy as there was an uncontrollable and unexpected rise in virus cases,” Baswedan said in the statement. “After that’s stabilized, we will start reducing the brake gradually.”
Baswedan said the effective reproduction number of the virus in Jakarta -- a measure of the spread among the population -- has eased to 1.07 from 1.14 in early September, helping justify the loosened restrictions. The city has added hospital beds for people suffering from Covid-19, with isolation wards at 66% capacity and intensive care units at 67% as of Saturday, compared with 75% and 83%, respectively, on Sept. 13.
Still, as a nation Indonesia continues to struggle to contain the spread of infections, with the number of confirmed cases tripling from the end of July to more than 300,000. Nearly 12,000 people have died. The country reported 4,497 new cases in the 24 hours through midday Sunday. On Thursday, Indonesia disclosed its highest daily daily total at 4,850.
While President Joko Widodo’s administration has refrained from imposing widespread lockdown measures, concern over the outbreak still curbed consumer spending and damped investment. Southeast Asia’s largest economy is set to enter its first annual contraction since the Asian financial crisis.
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