Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy said the government has a “big chance” to scrap the public activity restriction (PPKM) over the upcoming weeks.
“Why do we need to continue PPKM if the Covid-19 condition is already under control?” Effendy told ANTARA in Jakarta on Sunday.
This week, President Joko Widodo is visiting Bali for the 7th Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. Over 4,000 delegates are expected to attend the 5-day conference, held in cooperation with the United Nations.
Bali is currently at PPKM level 2, which means that delegates, tourists and locals are subject to some restrictions, such as wearing a mask in indoor public places and on public transport.
Cafes and restaurants must be at 75 percent capacity and there are still some restrictions on opening hours in the hotel industry.
According to experts, local companies can only recover from the economic crisis if they can operate at full capacity.
Tjok Gede Pemayun, head of the Bali Tourism Board, said a few weeks ago that upcoming visitors may be unhappy to realize that some of their favorite boutiques, cafes and bars are not yet fully operational or have closed permanently.
Meanwhile, Effendy noted that things will change once the government changes Covid-19’s status from pandemic to endemic disease.
“Endemic is a condition where the disease is still around but no longer becomes epidemic. It will be treated like any other infectious disease or other disease-related to bacteria, viruses, and fungi,” Effendy noted in Malang, East Java, on Saturday night (May 21), responding to the decrease in COVID-19 cases in Indonesia.
Covid-19 death rate was ranked 14th in an internal survey conducted by the Coordinating Ministry of Human Development and Culture in February 2022 in 18 hospitals in Jakarta, compared to other diseases in Indonesia such as cancer, pneumonia, non-specific pneumonia, and kidney disease.
Effendy reported that the next stage of restriction would be to remove masks indoors and on public transportation.