Indonesia Extends Activities Restricton — Fully Vaccinated Residents: 63 Millions

Indonesian Government has decided to extend its Community Activities Restrictions Enforcement (CARE) in Java and Bali until November 1, 2021 to control the spread of COVID-19.

As of today, October 19 2021, in Java and Bali, 54 regencies/cities are on CARE level 2 and 9 regency/cities are on level 1. Other areas on the two islands are still on level 3.

Area such as DKI Jakarta, Tangerang City, Bogor City, Bekasi City, Bandung City, Semarang Regency, Special Province of Yogyakarta, and Denpasar City are all currently on level 2.

Schools are reopened at 50% capacity for face-to-face learning. Supermarkets are opened at 75% capacity and the usage of Indonesian's tracing app PeduliLindungi is mandatory. Other public facilities are opened based on the specified maximum capacity guideline.

Level 4 indicates the highest restrictions where all non-essential activities are prohibited. Meanwhile, level 1 indicates the new normal, with strict health protocols, such as mandatory mask and vaccine cards for travelers, still in effect. Regions with CARE level 2 and 3 are allowed to carry out normal activities but with limited capacities.

CARE, or familiarly referred as PPKM (Pemberlakuan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat), is a cordon sanitaire policy of the Indonesian government since early 2021 to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following the COVID-19 situation which continues to improve, the decision to extend the PPKM level in Java-Bali is made every two weeks, although weekly evaluations are still being carried out. 

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President Joko Widodo (left) inspected door-to-door vaccinations in Central Java. (Photo: BPMI Setpres/Laily Rachev)

"Starting tomorrow there will be 54 regencies/cities at Level 2 and 9 regencies/cities at Level 1. The details regarding this decision will be stated through the Ministry of Home Affairs," said Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment as well as PPKM Coordinator for Java-Bali, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, in an online press conference, Monday (18/10/2021), quoted from Antara News,

"In October 17, 2021, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Yogyakarta and Bali recorded zero deaths and other provinces in Java and Bali only recorded less than five deaths per day,"  Coordinating Minister Luhut added. 

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Restrictions outside Java and Bali have been extended again until November 8th

The government has also decided to extend the implementation of PPKM outside of Java-Bali for the next three weeks, from October 19 to November 8, 2021. 

"The PPKM extension was conveyed to the President and it was approved for outside of Java, to take effect from October 19 to November 8 for 3 weeks, with evaluations still being carried out every week," said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, at the online PPKM Development press conference, Monday (18/10/2021), as quoted from Kompas. 

Coordinating Minister Airlangga, who is also the Chairman of the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Committee (KPC-PEN), said that the development of COVID-19 cases is much better, with the percentage of active cases at 0.5 percent of the total cases or below the global average of 0.7 percent. 

As of October 16, 2021, none of the provinces outside of Java and Bali is at level 4. Of the 27 provinces, only one is still at level 3, namely North Kalimantan. 

Then, 23 provinces are at level 2, and the other three are at level 1. 

"There are already 3 (provinces) at level 1, North Sumatra, NTB (West Nusa Tenggara), and Riau Islands," said Airlangga. 

Meanwhile, in terms of regencies/cities, there are 18 regencies/cities outside Java-Bali that are at level 1. Further more, 157 regencies/cities at level 2, and 211 regencies/cities at level 3. 

Airlangga said that, in the future, the evaluation of PPKM outside Java-Bali will consider an additional indicator, namely the vaccination achievement of each regency/city.

"The evaluation is based on the level of the Ministry of Health's assessment plus one factor related to regencies/cities. If the achievement of the first dose of vaccination being less than 40 percent, then the level will be raised by one," he said.

Receivers of COVID-19 vaccination second dose has increased by 456,232

The total number residents who have received COVID-19 vaccinations with complete doses or two injections in Indonesia has increased by 456,232 people, bringing the total to 63,188,800 as of Monday (18/10/2021). 

According to data from the COVID-19 Task Force, as received by ANTARA, as many as 107,981,016 people have been injected with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, an increase by 477,788 people.

COVID-19 vaccination rate in Indonesia.

To date, 1,073,746 people have received the third injection or "booster" for the COVID-19 vaccine, an increase of 3,685 people. 

The Indonesian government is to provide 208,265,720 people with COVID-19 vaccinations. As of today, with the 63 millions second doses, the country has reached roughly 30% of the vaccination target.

As of Monday (18/10,2021), the number of positive cases in Indonesia increased by 626 people, bringing the total to 4,235,384 people since the emergence of the first case in March 2020. 

Bali Reopens For 19 Countries

Indonesian government has opened international arrivals for 19 countries directly through Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali. 

However, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, said that if any of the 19 countries did not open their doors for Indonesia, the government would remove that country from the list.

 "If they haven't opened themselves up to us, because we have a reciprocal agreement, we will also drop them from the list of the 19 countries," Luhut said at an online press conference, Monday (18/10/2021), as quoted from Kompas. 

Luhut said the 19 countries that are allowed to enter Indonesia has gone through various considerations, one of which is the number of cases and the low positive rate based on the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO).

International travel to Bali has began to open on October 14 2021. The 19 countries selected by the government are also allowed to enter through the arrival gate in the Riau Archipelago. 

Other countries outside the lis, can still enter Indonesia through the international travel entrance of Jakarta or Manado.

All countries, including the the the ones in the list, are still required to follow health protocol procedures that have been implemented. The  arrivals from 19 countries are required to quarantine for 5 days.

The following is the list of 19 countries that may enter directly to Bali:

1. Saudi Arabia
2. United Arab Emirates
3. New Zealand
4. Kuwait
5. Bahrain
6. Qatar
7. China
8. India
9. Japan
10. South Korea
11. Liechtenstein
12. Italy
13. France
14. Portugal
15. Spain
16. Sweden
17. Poland
18. Hungary
19. Norway