TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian on Tuesday extended the Covid-19 public activity restriction or PPKM affecting the two most populous islands of Java and Bali which will last until August 1. The status of the pandemic has risen from Level 1 to Level 2 due to the rising number of confirmed cases.

The ministry’s director-general of regional administration Safrizal ZA reminded people to stay vigilant against the spread of the new Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.

“We had to increase the status of some regions to Level 2, which comprise Jakarta, Tangerang City, Tangerang Regency, South Tangerang, Bogor City, Bekasi City, Depok, Bogor Regency, Bekasi Regency, and Sorong,” Safrizal wrote in a statement on July 5.

In total, he said there are 114 regions under the Level 1 PPKM spread across Java and Bali, which is lower than the previous 128 regions. Meanwhile, there are 14 new areas under a stricter Level 2 PPKM.

Safrizal appealed to the public to avert panicking with this increase in cases because the cases of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 had a peak period of cases that were faster than the previous variants and the government is optimistic that the current pandemic can be handled.

TEMPO

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