Remember! For Those Who Have Not Been Vaccinated, It Is Forbidden To Travel Long Distances On Year-end Holidays

Illustration/Achmad Yani Airport Semarang/DOC Antara

JAKARTA - The COVID-19 Task Force (Satgas) forbids people who have not been vaccinated from traveling long distances during the Christmas and New Year periods.

"For people who have not been vaccinated and cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, it is forbidden to travel long distances," said Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force, Prof. Wiku Adisasmito, in a press conference quoted by Antara, Tuesday, December 14.

The prohibition is regulated in Inmendagri No.66 of 2021 regarding the prevention and control of COVID-19 in the Christmas and New Year periods.

Other rules that are also noted in the Minister of Home Affairs No. 66 of 2021, including the government will tighten the flow of travelers entering from abroad, including Indonesian Migrant Workers.

"We hope the Indonesian people who plan to return to Indonesia during the Christmas and New Year holidays to pay attention to the specific rules regarding this travel restriction," said Wiku.

In addition, Wiku continued, local governments were asked to tighten and supervise health protocols in places that could potentially cause crowds, including churches or places that functioned as places of worship for Christmas 2021, shopping areas, and local tourist attractions.

"In accordance with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the performance of Christmas and New Year celebrations in shopping centers will be prohibited, except for MSME exhibitions," he explained.

Wiku added, from December 24, 2021, to January 2, 2022, the government will also prohibit spectators from holding cultural and sporting events that have the potential to cause crowds, closing the square on December 31, 2021, to January 1, 2022, engineering and anticipating the activities of street vendors so that it can be carried out safely by COVID-19.

"Especially for the government of tourist destinations such as Bali, Bandung, Bogor, Yogyakarta, Malang, Surabaya, and Medan, it is hoped that they will carry out extra supervision at tourist destinations in their regions," he said.

In addition, the local government is also expected to implement odd-even arrangements for tourist attractions, limit the number of tourists to a maximum of 75 percent, and require the implementation of health protocols and optimization of the PeduliLindungi application every time they enter and leave tourist attractions.

To support the implementation of the regulation, Wiku said, local governments were asked to activate, optimize, and supervise the functioning of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force in each environment, at the provincial, district/district, sub-district, village and RT/RW levels.

"Activation of the regional task force must be carried out no later than December 20, 2021," he said.