Ahead Of The New Year, Minister Of Home Affairs Tito Bans Residents From Wandering, Parades And Fireworks

JAKARTA - The Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian forbids any activities that will cause crowds such as parades to fireworks parties to prevent the spread and potential spike of COVID-19 in the Christmas and New Year 2022 period.

"During Christmas and New Year, you are not allowed to roam around, there are no celebrations, parades, processions, fireworks displays, the square is closed and so on," said the Minister of Home Affairs in Jakarta as quoted by Antara, Monday, December 27.

Although parades and fireworks during the new year are prohibited, the Minister of Home Affairs said that restaurants and malls are still allowed to operate but by implementing strict health protocols.

"Restaurants are 75 percent, malls are 75 percent, the application of Care to Protect continues," said Minister of Home Affairs Tito.

The Minister of Home Affairs also requested that regional heads issue regional head regulations that contain sanctions in the implementation of community activity restrictions (PPKM) in their respective regions as an effort to prevent this.

"There are sanctions, if there are no sanctions, it's useless," said the Minister of Home Affairs.

Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian together with Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin and regional heads held a coordination meeting to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

"This meeting follows up on the president's directive, last night he held a meeting which was attended by the Minister of Health and us, a number of other cabinets were present. The point is that we are managing the pandemic in this new Christmas, there is a potential for crowds of people so we don't want it like last year, there will be a spike ," he said.

To anticipate the spike, said the Minister of Home Affairs, it is necessary to limit activities that have the potential to cause crowds. Then the public is also asked to continue to apply strict health protocols.

"Anticipating and responding to the Omicron variant, even though its character is being studied continuously. There are a number of steps that need to be conveyed to the public and the public. Whatever the variant, number 1 is prokes," he said.

Furthermore, according to the Minister of Home Affairs, other preparations to prevent a spike in COVID-19 at the end of the year are such as strengthening borders, then accelerating vaccinations. Strategies are made ranging from preventive measures to anticipating if there is a spread.