12-Year-Old Children Can Enter Jakarta Mall, Deputy Governor: Signs Of COVID Decreasing

JAKARTA - The government has allowed a trial for children under the age of 12 to visit malls or shopping centers in a number of cities, one of which is Jakarta, in the extension of the Java-Bali PPKM.

Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta, Ahmad Riza Patria, said that this policy was related to the COVID-19 condition in the capital, which was getting better.

"Alhamdulillah, it means that Jakarta is getting better, safer, the COVID-19 is getting lower," said Riza at DKI City Hall, Central Jakarta, Monday, September 20.

Riza explained that Jakarta's daily cases per day increased by 155 cases. Then, the occupancy of COVID-19 special isolation beds is only 9 percent. Then, ICU occupancy is 20 percent.

Then, the achievement of the first dose of COVID-19 vaccination in Jakarta was 10.23 million people and the second dose of 7.4 million. The vaccination target in Jakarta is 11.42 million people.

Although the handling of the pandemic in the capital is starting to improve, Riza asked 12-year-old children who want to enter the mall to be monitored by their respective parents.

"Of course it must be the responsibility of parents, their children are taken care of. Once again, the best place especially for children and parents is at home," said Riza.

Previously, the government extended the Java-Bali PPKM for 2 weeks from September 21 to October 4, 2021. In this PPKM extension, the government conducted a trial of allowing children under 12 years of age to enter malls or shopping centers.

"A mall shopping center will be tested for children under the age of 12 with parental supervision and assistance," said Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menkomarves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.

However, this trial has only been run in five major cities. "(This trial) will be implemented in the areas of Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Special Region of Yogyakarta and Surabaya," he continued.