TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government would not impose weekend lockdown, asserted the Health Ministry’s Director of Direct Infectious Diseases, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, in response to broadcast messages about such local quarantine.

The broadcasts noted that on weekends a number of supermarkets and shops would be closed so that people must provide their own basic necessities in large quantities. People who dare to leave the house, it said, would be subject to a fine and arrested and must undergo a swab test.

“The government has not yet issued any policy of a total lockdown in Jakarta and other regions. The current valid policy is the community activity restriction (PPKM),” said Nadia in an online press conference on Friday, February 5.

She appealed to the public not to easily believe fake news or hoaxes and refrain from spreading the messages. “The appeal [from the chat] is not true,” said Nadia.

Responding to Nadia, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Argo Yuwono emphasized that hoaxes would only cause bad impacts leading to an uproar.

Argo also reminded of the existence of criminal penalties for those spreading false information, such as weekend lockdowns. “As stipulated in Article 28 (1) of Law No. 11 of 2008 concerning ITE with a maximum penalty of six years and a fine of Rp1 billion,” he said.

Read: Jakarta Lockdown or Weekend Lockdown; Jakarta Deputy Governor Explains

ANDITA RAHMA