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JAKARTA: Authorities in the Indonesian capital reimposed a partial coronavirus lockdown on Monday and vowed to strictly isolate anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 as infections spiked in the metropolis.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said the city will resume large-scale social restrictions for two weeks starting Monday, calling it a necessary measure to prevent the collapse of the health system.
Non-essential businesses can only operate at 25% capacity, restaurants can only serve takeout, and schools, parks and tourist spots have been ordered closed.
Anyone who tests positive for Covid-19, including asymptomatic patients, will have to undergo mandatory quarantine at government facilities, he said.
“If a person who tested positive refuses to be isolated at the designated facility, health workers and law enforcement officers will pick them up,” Baswedan said at a news conference Sunday.
Jakarta first introduced coronavirus restrictions in early April, but began relaxing them in June.
Weeks later, however, the capital has seen a sharp increase in new Covid-19 cases.
Thousands of soldiers and police are being deployed to enforce restrictions that were previously often circumvented.
Still, the regulations could prove difficult to enforce.
“I will continue to work despite the large-scale restrictions,” said Taufik, who works in a grocery store.
“It’s a good policy, but I need to keep working every day because that’s where I get my income,” he told AFP.
Indonesia is the most affected country in Southeast Asia by the coronavirus, with 221,523 infections and 8,841 deaths.
As of Monday, Jakarta has reported more than 55,000 cases with nearly 1,500 deaths.
The head of the national Covid-19 task force, Doni Monardo, said that 20 of the 67 Covid-19 referral hospitals in Jakarta had reported occupancy rates in their intensive care units of more than 60 percent.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has announced that 15 hotels will be used to quarantine Covid-19 patients with mild or no symptoms.
Administrators in Jakarta have also turned part of an athlete village built for international sporting events for asymptomatic patients who need to be quarantined.
“The point is to provide more places for self-isolation so that people don’t have to self-quarantine at home with inadequate health standards,” Monardo said Monday.
In neighboring Bekasi, the local government has also converted a sports stadium into a quarantine facility for asymptomatic patients.
Click here for our live update of the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia.
