Loose social distancing points to slow Indonesian recovery

A street vendor wearing a protective mask sits as he waits for customers, as the government imposed large-scale restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease, during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday (April 25). - Reuters

JAKARTA: Indonesia opted for less punishing social-distancing measures than its neighbours to stem the spread of the Covid-19 (coronavirus) outbreak. Now analysts are warning its economy will take much longer to recover than others in South-East Asia.

With the pandemic’s peak expected in late May, President Joko Widodo is recalibrating his strategy of large-scale social distancing rules and calling for a ramp-up of testing to contain the impact of the virus in Indonesia, which has suffered the highest death toll in Asia after China and India. While additional cities are opting for partial lockdowns, more than two-thirds of the country’s 270 million people remain under only voluntary isolation, and infections have spread to more than 260 cities across the archipelago.