Indonesia's Medan defies the norm as country's Covid-19 cases hit almost 658,000

Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers hold signs urging residents to wear masks at the Merdeka Field in Medan, North Sumatra on June 28. - The Jakarta Post/Asian News Network

JAKARTA, Dec 19 (The Jakarta Post/ANN): The Medan administration in North Sumatra will proceed with Christmas and New Year celebrations while urging residents to avoid crowds despite a prohibition against crowd-pulling events from the provincial administration to curb soaring Covid-19 cases.

Medan administration official Renward Parapat, representing the city's acting mayor Akhyar Nasution in a cross-sectoral meeting on the year-end holidays recently, said the administration would help ensure that Christmas and New Year celebrations in the city would run smoothly and safely.