As Indonesia draws closer to treating COVID-19 as an endemic, the Jakarta Transportation Agency Chief on Friday, the 9th of June, abolished the mask mandatory on public transportation, with city-owned public transit companies adopting the relaxation of restrictions immediately.
In a memorandum dated the 9th of June, Agency Chief Syafrin Liputo stated, “[Commuters] are permitted to remove their masks as long as they are healthy and at no risk of transmitting or contracting COVID-19. It’s still advised to wear masks in public facilities for those feeling unwell or who may have COVID-19,” the statement reads.
Public transport providers such as Trans Jakarta, MRT Jakarta, and LRT Jakarta have each announced through their separate social media accounts that they had withdrawn their support for the mask mandatory, which has been in force since April 2020.
At the start of the year, the government withdrew the mask mandatory from the list of prohibited public activities (PPKM). Even after PPKM was repealed, Jakarta’s public transport companies continued to enforce the mask requirement until the Friday memorandum.
PT KAI Commuter Indonesia (KCI), a state-owned railway company that serves the Greater Jakarta metropolitan region, has yet to adopt the same policy for mask mandatory. “While we wait for new regulations from the Transportation Ministry, we’re still adhering to the current health protocols,” The local media was informed on Sunday, the 11th of June, 2023, by KCI’s public relations manager, Leza Arlan.
In contrast to city-owned TransJakarta and MRT Jakarta, KCI continues to be a subsidiary of the state-owned company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) and is governed by the Ministry of Transportation.
According to government data, the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia has decreased from the start of the year through the 8th of June. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 43% fewer casualties, while the number of positive cases has decreased from 366 to 254 patients.
Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman said the administration might easily withdraw the mandatory mask after considering the current situation. On Sunday, the 11th of June, Dicky informed the media that “the COVID-19 danger was still there. But the threat of COVID-19 still exists, not in terms of COVID-19’s fatality, but in terms of how long COVID-19 could severely impact someone’s quality of life and how repeated infections could damage someone’s organs,” he said.
Dicky asserts that the government must continue emphasising the value of mask use in public even if wearing a mask is no longer required. “Masks aren’t just for COVID-19; they’re also for pollution protection, which is crucial in a city with poor air quality like Jakarta,” according to Dicky.
Pollution in the capital city of Jakarta has progressively gotten worse despite a court decree in 2021, requiring the President, the Environment and Forestry Minister, the Health Minister, the Minister of Home Affairs), and the Governors of Jakarta, Banten, and West Java to tighten environmental regulations and improve air quality.
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