The government has announced extended Aidilfitri leave days for this year and vowed to ramp up the rollout of booster shots across the country as it seeks to strike a balance between lifting mobility restrictions while also limiting the risk of rising Covid-19 cases during the festive period.
The move came as restrictions on many activities during the holy month of Ramadan in the country were eased, with worshippers now allowed to hold congregational terawih (Ramadan evening prayer) and gather to pray in mosques.
The Indonesian government also allowed people to go back to their hometowns during the Aidilfitri holiday, a tradition known as mudik (exodus), marking the first time it has officially eased restrictions on holiday festivities in the last two years.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced on Wednesday that May 2 and 3 were officially national Aidilfitri holidays, in addition to mandatory collective leave days on April 29 and May 4 to 6, and called on the public to observe health protocols when they gathered with families and friends.
The holiday arrangement means that many offices across the country will be closed for the first week of May.
The collective leave announced this year was also longer than that of last year, which only saw one day of mandatory collective leave during the Aidilfitri holiday.
“The (extended) collective leave could be used to meet with parents, families and friends back home, but I need to stress that the pandemic is far from over,” Jokowi said on Wednesday, urging those who have yet to get a Covid-19 booster shot to get one before making the trip.
He added that the government would work hard to ensure that people could travel safely for mudik and called on the public to continue implementing health protocols and wearing masks in public areas or in crowds.
The government expects 85 million people to go on mudik during the Aidilfitri period, with some 14 million travellers set to leave Greater Jakarta.
The latest figure is six million higher than the previous estimate of around 79 million people.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy said the government would ramp up the rollout of the second and booster dose of Covid-19 vaccines, as Jokowi had instructed ministers to ensure that mudik would not create the “unnecessary risk” of increased coronavirus cases after the holiday.
“We call on people who have made up their mind to go on mudik to immediately get vaccinated, particularly to get the booster shot for those who have received two vaccine doses,” said Muhadjir.
The government will set up vaccination centres at mosques, particularly in areas where travellers are expected to depart, such as in Greater Jakarta, West Java and Central Java, to help accelerate the inoculation drive, he added.
According to a circular issued by the National Covid-19 task force, homebound travellers who have received a booster shot are not required to present a negative Covid-19 test for their journey.
Meanwhile, those who have received a booster shot are not required to present a negative rapid antigen or polymerase chain reaction test result.
Separately, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said he was optimistic that this year’s Aidilfitri holiday would not be followed by a spike in coronavirus cases, as long as there were no new variants, which he said was the more likely factor behind an increase in Covid-19 cases.
“We have observed that the cause of a spike in Covid-19 cases is not the Idul Fitri holiday (itself), but rather a new variant,” Budi said, referring to the Indonesian term for the holiday.
“So far, there are no new variants (the country) needs to be worried about,” he added during a webinar on Wednesday.
“I am confident that there will be no case spikes (following the holiday), but we have to pray that there will be no new variants.”
Budi said the most recent coronavirus variant detected in the country was the BA.2 variant, a subvariant of the Omicron strain.
While the subvariant has caused an uptick in cases in some European and Asian countries, Indonesia has yet to see a similar increase so far.
Indonesia reported 1,755 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday, bringing the cumulative total of cases in the South-East Asian country to more than 6.03 million.
The health ministry also reported 47 deaths from Covid-19 complications.
This brings the Covid-19 death toll in the country to more than 156,000. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
