"The visit rate is expected to drop quite drastically so that only about 10 percent (visitors) will remain," APPBI chairman Alphonsus Widjaja said when contacted here on Tuesday.
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Based on the experience in early 2021, micro-scale community activity restrictions (micro-scale PPKM) would not be effective in reducing the number of COVID-19 cases if conducted partially, he observed.
He said he believed that a stronger enforcement of the policy is needed, in addition to implementing strict, disciplined, and consistent health protocols.
"In shopping centers, strict implementation of health protocols also needs to be carried out by shopping center managers and tenants," he noted.
Widjaja predicted that the implementation of micro-scale PPKM would reduce the pace of economic growth. Hence, he said he expected the government to ensure restrictions are enforced more strongly.
"The government must be able to ensure that the restrictions, for this time, are strictly enforced, while the implementation of health protocols must also be enforced more strictly, disciplined, and consistent so that this economic sacrifice will not be in vain," he said.
Earlier, Coordinating Minister for Economics Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, had said that to reduce the rate of transmission of COVID-19, the operation of shopping centers, including malls and markets, will be limited until 20 p.m. local time, while the number of visitors will also be limited to 25 percent of the capacity during the period from June 22, 2021 to July 5, 2021. (INE)
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Translator: Ade Irma Junida, Katriana
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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