Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno confirmed to have not yet received any directive on closing tourism attractions amid the surge in cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

Nevertheless, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy continues to encourage managers of the tourism industry to bolster the implementation of health protocols, he remarked.

"Likewise, the use of the PeduliLindungi application should be enhanced," Uno remarked during a weekly press briefing here on Monday.

The minister emphasized that his team had ensured that compliance with health protocols would be improved and the coverage of vaccination would be expanded, such as testing and tracing based on the number of cases and situations.

The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy also called for various parties that collaborate with the ministry to increase booster vaccinations for tourism and creative economy industry players.

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Uno cited the example of the COVID-19 Task Force in Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, that provided booster shots for hotel workers and tourists in the Mandalika Special Economic Zone.

"Booster vaccination (in Central Lombok) is part of the preparations ahead of the MotoGP 2022 in Mandalika," Uno remarked.

In addition, the Riau Islands administration continues to offer booster vaccine shots to tourism industry players to increase the trust of tourists visiting Batam.

Earlier, a group of epidemiologists had stated that Indonesia will experience a significant increase or spike in COVID-19 cases from February to early March 2022.

"We should be careful and vigilant, but there is no need to be panic," Uno remarked.

The ministry also reported that activities in the tourism and the creative economy sectors would be adjusted in line with the rules of Public Activities Restrictions (PPKM).

Currently, the ministry is awaiting the latest regulations related to PPKM levels, as it took 14 days to complete the new assessment for data adjustment due to additional data entries from vaccination of the elderly and children.
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Translator: M Alatas, Kenzu T
Editor: Suharto
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