TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Governor of the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, in a meeting with the central government on Sunday said the city administration has started to prepare essential measures to prevent another Covid-19 surge ahead of the Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays.

In the meeting with Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the governor asserted that “We must be extremely mindful in facing the Christmas and new year’s holidays to prevent unwanted scenarios."

He mentioned the need to establish special monitoring measures in areas popular for tourism such as the Gunungkidul and Bantul.

Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono claimed the hotel industry in Yogyakarta abides by the government's health protocol by limiting the room availability to control the number of visitors.

“Hotels located at tourism areas have operated 100 percent, but that means only 30 percent from the 50 percent of total room capacity,” said the governor.

Yogyakarta is currently implementing the Level 3 public activity restriction (PPKM) and is withholding hotels from operating at 100 percent as the local Covid-19 task force has recorded a positive trend. They had only logged 18 confirmed cases and in total logged 867 active cases (0.22 percent positivity rate).

Read: Yogyakarta Govt Optimistic of Finishing Vaccinations by October 7

PRIBADI WICAKSONO