Huge traffic jams as Indonesia's Eid al-Fitr holiday exodus starts

A general view of a traffic jam at a toll booth of a highway as Indonesian Muslims return to their hometowns to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, known locally as 'Mudik', in Karawang Regency, on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, April 28, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Yuddy Cahya Budiman

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Tens of millions of Indonesian Muslims are expected to travel back to their hometowns to celebrate Eid al-Fitr in coming days, with traffic jams of up to 10 km (6 miles) already starting to form on some routes out of the capital Jakarta.

The decision to once again allow mass travel home, known locally as "mudik", comes after authorities banned the tradition in the past two years to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the Southeast Asian nation of 270 million people.