Air and sea travel banned

Deserted roads: Vehicles travelling along a near-empty highway during a partial lockdown in Jakarta, Indonesia. — Bloomberg

Indonesia will temporarily ban domestic and international air and sea travel, with some exceptions, starting this week to prevent a further spread of the coronavirus, the transport ministry said.

The announcement came as the holy month of Ramadan began in the world’s largest Muslim majority country, and the government has already banned citizens’ traditional annual exodus from the cities to the provinces during the holiday period.