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JAKARTA (AFP): Muslim-majority Indonesia on Friday (March 26) banned an annual exodus that causes millions of people to travel across the vast nation to mark the end of Ramadan fearing a rise in infections from Covid-19.
Travelers arrive at airports, train stations and ports along the nearly 5,000 km (3,100 mile) long archipelago in a mass migration, known as Mudik, which is similar to the Lunar New Year or Christmas holidays in China. .
Many head home in time for celebrations at the end of Islam’s holy fasting month, a festival known as Eid al-Fitr.
Ramadan ends in mid-May this year.
On Friday, the government said it was banning the exodus as Indonesia, one of the worst-affected nations in Asia, launches a mass vaccination campaign.
The country previously announced an ambitious goal of vaccinating more than 181 million of its nearly 270 million people in one year.
“There will be no Mudik in 2021,” Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy said in a statement, citing fears of virus spread and inoculation efforts.
But he added that some may get “rush travel” exemptions, without elaborating.
Fearing a public health disaster, the government last year imposed a ban on domestic air and sea travel and set up roadblocks to stop movement across the country.
But many took advantage of loopholes in the rules, as well as relying on human smugglers and fake travel documents, to circumvent the ban.
Indonesia has officially reported almost 1.5 million infections and more than 40,000 deaths.
But the low test rates mean the crisis is believed to be much more severe than those figures suggest.
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