TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Pandjaitan, demanded all officials to no longer allow people to gather in large numbers. This followed the significant hike in positive cases of COVID-19 in Jakarta and Bali after the long weekend in October’s end.

“I want all of us to agree that there must be no more crowds for any reason for days ahead,” said Luhut to regional heads, military commanders, and police chiefs attending the coordination meeting on the virus handling in Jakarta and Bali on Monday, Nov. 30.

Luhut made the appeal following the high number of fresh cases in the two big cities. On Nov. 25-30, Jakarta logged 8,598 new cases, a significant surge compared to the previous period on Oct. 28-Nov. 3 with 5,168 cases. Bali also recorded a hike in cases from 386 on Oct. 28-Nov. 3 to 823 on Nov. 25-30.

He also asked the Health Ministry to monitor the availability of drugs in regions and ensure sufficient capacity of ICU and isolation rooms in hospitals for COVID-19 patients.

In the meeting, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan claimed the surge in cases, particularly in family clusters, occurred two weeks after the long holiday from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1. Based on the city’s tracing, most of the families traveled to Bandung, Semarang, Lampung, and East Java. He hoped the central government would review the policy on the year-end collective leave days.

Unlike the capital city, Bali’s high number of new cases was attributable to the regional head election (Pilkada).

Due to the facts, Luhut Pandjaitan then asked all regional authorities to evaluate the implementation of Pilkada and the impact of the past long holidays on the rising COVID-19 cases. The result, he added, would be necessary for the government in determining the year-end holiday policy.

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CAESAR AKBAR