Bandung, W Java (ANTARA) - The Bandung City Government's COVID-19 Task Force has announced the temporary closure of the city's six tourist destinations from May 23 to June 1, 2021 to stop large crowds that potentially trigger a hike in COVID-19 cases.

The temporarily-closed tourist destinations and entertainment venues comprise the Bandung Zoological Garden, Karang Setra Waterland, Saung Angklung Udjo, Taman Lalu Lintas (Traffic Park), Trans Studio Bandung, and Kiara Artha Park.

The instruction for the temporary closure of tourist destinations that have triggered large crowds, is notified in a letter of the Bandung city administration's secretary, Ema Sumarna, according to the city's task force deputy head, Dadang Iriana.

Iriana admitted that in the midst of Eid al-Fitr holiday season, the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Bandung, the capital of West Java Province, has shown an upward trend.

Regarding the city government's instruction, the Bandung Zoological Garden spokesperson, Aan Sulhan, said the zoo would be closed starting from Sunday.

Sulhan said the temporary closure would definitely inflict material losses but the management should not be selfish for the sake of Indonesia's collective endeavors to fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

Indonesia's total number of COVID-19 cases was recorded at 1,769,940 as of Saturday.

President Joko Widodo recently said the people at large have been struggling to deal with the wide-ranging impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on the public health and economy since March last year.

Indonesia has continually striven to win the fight against the global coronavirus disease pandemic that has acutely impacted its economy and public health.

The Indonesian government has begun a nationwide vaccination program to contain infections since January 13, 2021.

As of Saturday, the number of fully vaccinated Indonesians had reached 9,366,635, while the total count of those receiving their first COVID-19 jab was recorded at 14,099,754.

The Indonesian Health Ministry had pegged the vaccination of some 181.5 million people under the national program to take about 15 months.

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

During the period, the government is targeting to inoculate about 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 has been divided into two periods: January-April 2021 and April 2021-March 2022.


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Translator: Bagus AR, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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