"We are collaborating with our colleagues from the Jakarta Public Order Agency," Head of the Depok Public Order Agency Lienda Ratnanurdianny notified local journalists in Depok, West Java Province, on Friday.
The joint operation targets cracking down on residents violating the compulsory protocol to wear face masks while venturing outdoors in a collective effort to break the chain of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, she stated.
Offenders seen inside the Depok city government's administrative areas will draw sanctions from the Depok-based Satpol PP personnel, while those in the capital city will handle violators of the rule in the metropolitan areas of Jakarta.
However, Ratnanurdianny did not divulge details on the exact date when the two cities' Satpol PP personnel will begin their joint operation.
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In another development, the Depok and Bogor city governments imposed a curfew to restrict public movement at night to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Jakarta's greater metropolitan areas, including Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, and Bogor, remain classified as COVID-19 red zones, or high-risk areas.
As of Thursday, Indonesia had recorded the addition of 3,622 new confirmed cases, thereby bringing the total tally to 184,268. Of the total patients, 132,055 have recovered completely, while 7,750 have succumbed to the deadly virus.
Coronavirus infections initially surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019, while the Indonesian government officially announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.
In the early stages of responding to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Aceh provincial government had also imposed a two-month curfew.
The Aceh Regional Leadership Communication Forum (Forkopimda) had supported the imposition of the coronavirus curfew from March 29 to May 29 this year.
To tackle the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to an economic contraction of 5.32 percent in the second quarter of this year, the Indonesian government is making all-out efforts, especially in developing a vaccine to combat the virus.
Currently, in addition to the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, Indonesian scientists are working on a vaccine named after the country's national flag, Merah Putih (Red and White).
Discovering a COVID-19 vaccine by early 2021 may help Indonesia's economy to recover at the latest by mid-2021, Iman Sugema, a senior economist with the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), stated.
"Economic recovery really relies on how immediate the COVID-19 vaccine is discovered. If it can be achieved on time, Indonesia's economy will rebound in mid-2021," Sugema has forecast.
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Translator: Feru L, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
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