The government's ban on homebound travel, or 'mudik,' is purely aimed at breaking the chain of COVID-19 transmission and contagion
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Head of Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Doni Monardo has issued a warning to the people at large to not breach the government's homebound travel ban.

"The government's ban on homebound travel, or 'mudik,' is purely aimed at breaking the chain of COVID-19 transmission and contagion," Monardo remarked here on Saturday.

To this end, Monardo has urged all members of communities nationwide to diligently adhere to the government's ban on "mudik" before, during, and after the Idul Fitri holiday season.

The government has banned homebound travel on May 6-17, but the people are not allowed to travel before and after that period of time, he pointed out.

The BNPB head highlighted the government’s concern that a large-scale movement of people before the Ramadan fasting month ends and during the Idul Fitri holiday season may trigger the spread of the COVID-19 contagion.

"We do not want a family gathering to end with tragic events. We lose our beloved ones (due to COVID-19). Please do not let such tragedies occur," he stated.

The coronavirus outbreak initially struck the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019 and then spread to various parts of the world, including countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Indonesian government announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.

Since then, the central and regional governments have made persistent efforts to flatten the coronavirus curve by imposing healthcare protocols and social restrictions.

To break the chain of transmission of COVID-19, which has impacted the purchasing power of scores of families in Indonesia, the government had also banned "mudik" last year.

Indonesia is also striving to win the fight against this global pandemic of the coronavirus disease through a national vaccination program.

According to the Health Ministry, it will take around 15 months to vaccinate about 181.5 million people under the national program.

"We need 15 months to accomplish it. The time frame for conducting the vaccination is counted from January 2021 to March 2022," the Health Ministry's spokesperson for the vaccination program, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, stated recently.

During the period, the government is targeting to inoculate some 181.5 million people, including 1.3 million paramedics and 17.4 million public sector workers in 34 provinces, according to Tarmizi.

Tarmizi noted that the first phase of the government's immunization program was divided into two periods: January-April 2021 and April 2021-March 2022.
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