Jakarta starts mobility restrictions on Friday to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission

Starting from today (10 April), the Jakarta Administration will impose the large-scale social distancing restrictions (PSBB) in the city as a measure to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission through human interaction.
“PSBB will come into effect as of Friday, 10 April at 12:00. There will be joint forces of National Police and Army set to patrol to ensure that there will be no gathering. However, these patrols will not be conducted in the form of checkpoint, but instead to confirm that the community follows the restrictions,” said Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan in a press conference on Wednesday (8 April) evening.
Earlier that day, Mr Baswedan attended a meeting with other governors and mayors in neighboring regions that have become the center of mobility to and from Jakarta. He said that the meeting was purposely held so that all neighboring regions would be able to implement the same measures when the PSBB comes into effect.
However, he noted the operation of motorbike taxi has not been discussed yet.
“All rules have been discussed except for one important subject that is about the operation of online ojek (motobike taxi),” said Mr Baswedan. “Ojek operators have set their own mechanism to avoid COVID-19 transmission and we try to put that in the policy so that they can continue transporting people and goods.”
The large-scale social distancing restrictions will not only limit the people’s access to public facilities or events, but also limit their mobility.
“As for mass transportation, we will reduce the number of its passenger capacity. So, for example, the normal capacity of a bus will be limited from 50 passengers to 25. The train car capacity will be limited from 100 passengers to 50. Meanwhile the number of vehicles will not be reduced but their operating hours will be limited from 6am to 6pm,” he explained.
He pointed out that the main goal here is to limit human interaction to break the virus chain.
“The point is to limit human interaction. This virus spreads from people to other people. If the interaction between people continues, we will not be able to break the chain of this virus. If we apply it consistently and with discipline, we probably would be able to control the virus spread,” he said.
Limitation in number of people in vehicles
Separately, Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Nana Sudjana explained the details of mobility restrictions in Polda Metro Jaya Office on Wednesday (8 April).
“Private cars such as Avanza that has a capacity of six people, now it will be limited to only three people,” he said. He added that sedan type of car will be limited to only two people.
“As for two wheels-vehicle or motorbike, it will be limited to only one people. Because it is clearly against the physical distancing. Therefore, only one people is allowed for motorbike.”
In addition, he also noted that the number of passengers in public transportation  such as bus, train and MRT will be limited to 50 percent of its normal capacity.
Jakarta has been granted the permit to impose the large-scale of social distancing restrictions on Tuesday by the Minister of Health.
Mr Baswedan ended the press conference by encouraging each individual to maintain their social distance, stay at home, wash their hands regularly, and wear mask so that Indonesia can suppress the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“This program is to protect all citizen. We do this to ensure that all of us will be safe,” he concluded.