The Emergency Enforcement of Restrictions on Public Activities (Emergency PPKM) is now no longer exclusive to Java and Bali, as the government is expanding its implementation to 15 cities and regencies outside of the two densely populated islands.
Starting July 12 until an as-of-yet undetermined date, Emergency PPKM will be imposed in regions where hospital bed occupancy rate exceeds 65 percent, are seeing spikes in active cases, and where vaccine coverage is lower than 50 percent.
The 15 cities and regencies outside of Java and Bali that fall under the criteria are:
- Tanjung Pinang
- Singkawang
- Padang Panjang
- Balikpapan
- Bandar Lampung
- Pontianak
- Manokwari
- Sorong
- Batam
- Bontang
- Bukittinggi
- Berau
- Padang
- Mataram
- Medan
The same Emergency PPKM rules apply as those imposed on Java and Bali, including a full work from home policy for non-essential sectors, temporary closures of malls, restaurants only able to serve delivery and takeaway orders, and more. You can see a comprehensive list of the restrictions here.
In announcing the implementation of Emergency PPKM to the 15 regions above, the government also said that it will administer the mRNA-based Moderna vaccine from the US in the coming weeks as a third booster shot to healthcare workers. This will be done to better protect them from more infectious variants of the coronavirus, including the Delta variant, which is ravaging Indonesia in the country’s current COVID-19 crisis.
Most healthcare workers in Indonesia have received two doses of the vaccine from Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac, but questions have been raised about its efficacy against the Delta variant after 131 healthcare workers died since June, including 50 in July.
