TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Presidential Office announced Wednesday, April 1, that the decision taken by President Jokowi for imposing a national-scale social restriction, or PSBB, under Government Regulation No. 21/2020 is deemed the most rational policy to suppress the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

“This is the most rational decision out of many scenarios to accelerate the mitigation of the COVID-19,” said Presidential Office spokesperson Juri Ardiantoro in a video conference at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) headquarters.

He elaborated that the social restriction was taken based on three considerations; people’s safety, the local characteristics along with the broadness of affected regions, and the people’s economic needs.

“Those aspects heavily based the decision,” said Ardiantoro.

According to the Government Regulation’s Article number 4, the large-scale social restriction mandates the closure of workplaces and schools, to limit religious activities and/or activities conducted in public facilities.

He acknowledged that the policy does not differ too much from the social distancing policy that has been enacted for the past two weeks, but the implementation will be far more disciplined, effective, and coordinated.

DEWI NURITA