Jakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto has said that it is now mandatory for people visiting a crowded place or attending a crowded event to have received the COVID-19 booster vaccine.

"The COVID-19 Handling Task Force has issued a circular regulating crowded events visitors must be vaccinated with the booster vaccine," Hartarto noted at the State Palace on Monday.

The circular refers to Circular Letter (SE) Number 22 of 2022, which came into effect on June 21, 2022.

The circular covers events attended physically by more than 1,000 people at the same specific time and location, either indoors or outdoors.

The circular states that children aged 6 to 17 years will be allowed to enter if they have obtained the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccination. Meanwhile, visitors aged 18 years and over will be allowed entry if they have received the third or booster dose of the vaccination.

"Then, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) reminded the use of PeduliLindungi application in various places to be tightened," Hartarto added.

He also highlighted that in some countries, COVID-19 cases are still relatively high and the pandemic has not ended yet.

"We will see it in the next six months. For now, 80 percent of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia are dominated by BA.4 and BA.5 variants," he informed.

Based on data from the COVID-19 Task Force, as of July 3, 2022, the total number of confirmed positive cases in Indonesia has increased by 1,614, bringing the total tally to 6,093,917. Meanwhile, the number of active cases has reached 16,919.

Meanwhile, the number of patients who have recovered from the virus has increased by 1,606, bringing the total to 5,920,249. The number of deaths has increased by 4 to reach 156,749. The pandemic broke out in Indonesia in March 2020.

As for vaccinations, the government has provided the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination to 201,565,306 people, the second dose to 169,117,557 people, and the third dose or booster vaccine to 50,916,428 people, thus, the booster coverage has only reached 24.5 percent of the targeted recipients.

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Translator: Desca Lidya N, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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