TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta provincial administration insisted to bar night entertainment venues from reopening during the transitional PSBB or large-scale social restriction in the city.

“So during the transitional PSBB, entertainment sites such as discotheque, massage parlors, and karaoke lounges are not permitted to open,” said the city’s Head of Tourism and Creative Economy Agency, Cucu Ahmad Kurnia, on Wednesday, August 5, 2020.

Cucu explained that referring to the evaluation result of the COVID-19 mitigation task force, entertainment venues were at high risk for virus transmission. Moreover, most of the places were humid and it would be difficult to adopt physical distancing order.

“Not recommended [to reopen] yet,” Cucu added. The government had also revoked the plan to reopen movie theaters during the transitional period to a ‘new normal’ era given the considerations.

The city administration, Cucu went on, would grant permission for operators of the entertainment business to resume their operation when the situation is declared safe. Until the third extension of the phase 1 of transitional PSBB, the pandemic has not been under control yet, which was evident from the increasing number of new positive cases.

The COVID-19 mitigation task force noted that entertainment venues would be allowed to reopen when the virus effective reproductive number (Rt) is below one and the positivity rate is below five percent. “That’s the WHO standard,” Cucu said.

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IMAM HAMDI