Jokowi Prohibits Homecoming: We Miss Our Relatives, But Let's Prioritize Safety Together

President Jokowi explains the prohibition of going home (Youtube of the Secretariat of the President of the Republic of Indonesia)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) emphasized that the government has banned the people from going home for Eid or Idul Fitri this year. This is done to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the community.

"Since long ago the government has decided to prohibit homecoming on this Eid," said Jokowi in a video broadcast on the YouTube account of the Presidential Secretariat, Friday, April 16.

He explained that the ban on going home has also been taken with various considerations. Because, based on previous experience, long holidays are one of the moments that often increase the number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Jokowi said, in 2020, there were four long holidays that significantly affected the addition of COVID-19 cases. First, was during the Eid Al-Fitr holiday last year, where there was an increase in daily cases of up to 93 percent and cases of death by 66 percent.

"The second increase in COVID cases occurred during the long holiday on August 20-23, 2020. Which resulted in an increase of up to 119 percent and the weekly death rate to increase by 57 percent," said Jokowi.

Next, the long holidays from 28 October to 1 November 2020 also contributed to an increase in COVID-19 cases by 95 percent and an increase in the weekly death rate of up to 75 percent.

"Finally, fourthly, there was an increase during holidays at the end of December 24 to January 3, 2021 resulting in an increase in daily cases reaching 78 percent and an increase in weekly deaths of up to 46 percent," Jokowi explained.

According to him, the ban on going home was issued by the government in order to keep the trend of active cases in Indonesia declining over the past two months. "(Active cases, red) decreased from 176,672 cases on February 5, 2021 and on April 15, 2021 to 108,032 cases," he said.

Likewise with daily cases which are now decreasing and the recovery trend is increasing. "If 1 March 2021 as many as 1,151,915 recovered or 85.88 percent of the total cases, in April 15 it will increase to 1,438,254 patients recovered or reach 90.5 percent of total cases," said the former Mayor of Solo.

With these positive results, the government is trying to maintain this momentum. "For this reason, this time the government has decided to prohibit homecoming for ASN, TNI and Polri, BUMN employees, private employees and all people," he said.

Jokowi understands that people certainly miss their relatives in their hometowns, especially in the momentum of Eid. However, keeping the COVID-19 pandemic is also something that needs to be done by all parties.

"I understand that we all miss our relatives at times like this, especially in Eid. But let's prioritize safety together by not going back to our hometowns," he said.

"Let us fill Ramadan with an effort to break the chain of transmission of the plague for the safety of our relatives and ourselves, and the whole community," he concluded.