The decision was taken to prevent crowding of people at markets and shopping malls that could place them at a higher risk of being infected by the virus, Head of the district's Communication and Information Office, Gatot Triyono, remarked.
The rising trend of COVID-19 confirmed cases in Jember District and the map of its widening spread have become an irksome reality. As of May 22, a total of 25 local residents were confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19, Triyono noted.
The COVID-19 patients hail from 19 villages and neighborhoods in 17 sub-districts, of which two had succumbed to the disease, Triyono remarked, adding that the related authorities were also monitoring those potentially diagnosed with COVID-19 symptoms.
The number of patients under surveillance for COVID-19 currently reach 143, while those under monitoring stood at 242, and 1,162 other residents were categorized as people with risky conditions. They can be found in 31 sub-districts.
Amid this precarious scenario, shopping malls and traditional markets continue to be thronged by people. Hence, preventive measures should be taken, including imposing a rule to temporarily close markets and malls, he expounded.
Indonesia has been battling the spread of COVID-19 over these past three months. The Indonesian government officially announced the country's first two confirmed COVID-19 cases on March 2.
This deadly coronavirus surfaced in Wuhan in the end of December 2019 but owing to China's lack of transparency and goodwill to tell the truth of human-to-human transmissions from the start has resulted in its spread across the world.
To contain the spread of COVID-19, it has enforced large-scale social restrictions and distancing measures in several cities, including Jakarta, Bogor, Bekasi, Surabaya, and Makassar.
In breaking the chain of the COVID-19, the East Java provincial government also sent homebound travelers arriving from abroad and other parts of Indonesia for a 14-day quarantine at observation centers across the province.
East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa noted that those arriving in East Java from red zones and abroad were quarantined at certain locations across the province.
A total of 7,387 villages and neighborhoods in East Java have set up observation rooms for homebound travelers to undergo quarantine for 14 days, she revealed.
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Translator: Zumrotun S, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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