Jakarta Urges People Not to Perform Eid al-Adha Qurban at Residential Areas

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Acting Head of Jakarta Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Sabdo Kurnianto, urged the public not to slaughter sacrificial animals or known as qurban in residential areas during the Eid al-Adha. He recommended the religious annual event be carried out only in a slaughterhouse (RPH).

Sabdo reminded that the potential for Covid-19 transmission is very high with the emergence of the Delta variant which spreads 5 times faster. Performing qurban at the residential areas is dangerous as it likely attracts crowds, he added.

“This is highly dangerous. It's impossible that qurban only involves 5 people, it's definitely more than 20-30 people. And so we must change this tradition during the Covid-19 pandemic together,” said Sabdo at the virtual webinar on the policy for the qurban implementation during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Jakarta on Wednesday, July 30.

Sabdo also asked the city’s Food, Maritime, and Agriculture Security Agency (DKPKP) to remind slaughterhouse officers to comply with the health protocols and take a PCR swab test beforehand. He also reminded the agency to pay attention to the red zone and limit the activities until 5 p.m. only.

“Hospitals, doctors, and health workers are already overwhelmed. The handling of Covid-19 is not only carried out downstream. But it must start from upstream, which is in the neighborhood or community units (RT-RW),” Sabdo underlined.

The Jakarta BPBD Head further called on all Jakarta residents to follow the policy on slaughtering sacrificial animals during this pandemic for the common good given that the capital city lacks adequate human resources to supervise qurban compared to the city population.

Read Also: Minister Yaqut Issues Circular on 2021 Eid al-Adha Prayer, Qurban

ZEFANYA APRILIA | TD