Preventing The Spread Of Omicron, Anies Baswedan Stops Sports And Cultural Activities Involving Foreigners

Anies Baswedan

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has decided to suspend all sports and cultural activities that involve foreigners and involve large numbers of people to prevent the spread of the new variant of COVID-19, namely Omicron.

"It is better to prevent the slightest leakage early on until we all make sure Omicron is under control," said DKI Jakarta Governor, Anies Baswedan, through a press release received in Jakarta on Saturday, December 4.

The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government's decision refers to the central government's decision to prevent the spread of the new variant of COVID-19, Omicron, by strictly maintaining borders, activities from abroad, and limiting activities that can cause crowds.

According to Anies, vigilance against COVID-19 should not be relaxed, especially after news of the development of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 abroad.

In connection with the development of the situation, the series of events in the 2021 Indonesia Youth Championship (IYC) tournament on December 4-11, including the initial launch or "soft launching" agenda for the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) in North Jakarta, was postponed.

"We ask Pancoran Soccer Field to suspend the entire series of IYC 2021 tournaments, until the pandemic situation and the spread of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus are more controlled," he said as quoted by ANTARA.

Anies also stated that he appreciated all parties involved in organizing the 2021 IYC activities, starting from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), related ministries, the Bali Provincial Government, Regional Owned Enterprises (BUMD) involved, and various other parties.

"This postponement is carried out to maintain the safety and health of all parties involved in the implementation of IYC 2021 and the soft launching of JIS, including the people of Jakarta and Indonesia so that the overall situation can continue to be controlled," he said.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, said that the emergence of this new variant of Omicron was a serious concern from the central government in anticipating its spread in Indonesia, not only anticipating in the provinces of DKI Jakarta and Bali.

"Learning from the experience of other countries whose citizens have undergone complete vaccination with a fairly high proportion and the cases have decreased, suddenly spiked again due to negligence with this new variant. Of course, we have to really anticipate this so that it doesn't happen in Indonesia," said Wayan Koster.

The head of Pancoran Soccer Field, Gede Widiade, explained that the decision to postpone the IYC 2021 Bali-Jakarta tournament had been coordinated with the three competing clubs, and they gave a confirmation letter again to remain committed to participating in the International Youth Championship in 2022.

"We have informed each other with colleagues in Europe that it turns out that the development of this Omicron variant is very fast and powerful. Then, we have also coordinated with the three clubs with our partners in Dubai that this delay is very difficult for the team of the three clubs we have participated. They remain committed to participating in the International Youth Championship next year," said Gede.