Palangka Raya City Government Has No New Year's Eve Celebration

Mayor of Palangka Raya Fairid Naparin/PHOTO VIA ANTARA

PALANGKA RAYA - The City Government of Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, has canceled the celebration of New Year's Eve 2022 in an effort to anticipate the spread of COVID-19, which is starting to slow down.

"At the end of this year, the government will not hold entertainment on New Year's Eve. The whole community should also not make events that can cause crowds, because it is still in the COVID-19 pandemic," said Palangka Raya Mayor Fairid Naparin, quoted by Antara, Monday, December 13.

Fairid said that this year there will also be no holidays or leave with the Christmas and New Year 2022 period for ASN and all city government employees.

"This is also in accordance with the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs to eliminate Christmas and New Year holidays. There are holidays, only on December 25, 2021 during Christmas celebrations," Fairid said.

The abolition of public holidays or leave is to prevent population mobility because it is considered a risk of COVID-19 transmission.

The whole community is asked to celebrate the New Year with their families in a simple way in their respective homes.

"We always invite the whole community to obey and implement health protocols so that the spread of COVID-19 can be stopped," he said.

Meanwhile, the Daily Chair of the Palangka Raya City COVID-19 Task Force, Emi Abriyani, added that as an effort to prevent potential crowds that could cause COVID-19 transmission, fireworks celebrations to welcome the 2022 new year celebrations were not allowed.

The ban was agreed upon in a preparatory meeting for Christmas and New Year. Written rules related to this will be published as a guide for the implementation of tightening health protocols.

"We have made various efforts to anticipate the emergence of clusters of virus spread during Christmas and New Year, including monitoring community activities," he said.

In order to ensure public compliance in carrying out the process, there will be no fireworks and crowd activities, on New Year's Eve, the COVID-19 Task Force Team together with the TNI and Polri will carry out strict patrols.