JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s capital city Jakarta on Tuesday extended its large-scale social curbs until June 4, maintaining restrictions that limited public transportation and gatherings in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Indonesia has allowed regional health authorities to impose their own measures if the health ministry finds sufficient evidence of a rise in coronavirus cases.
“The more people stay at home, the less transmission there is,” Jakarta governor, Anies Baswedan, said in a video conference. “These could be the final (restrictions), if we’re disciplined.”
He cited people leaving their houses at dusk and night during the holy month of Ramadan as the reason behind the extension. Jakarta has also shut its schools and most shops and malls have chosen to close.
The city of about 10 million people has recorded 6,155 coronavirus infections and 470 deaths. Indonesia has reported 18,496 infections and 1,221 fatalities so far, the highest death toll in Southeast Asia.
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Martin Petty)
