On June 30th. The President of the Indonesia, Jokowi, announced that there was a need to slow down the spread of COVID -19 in Indonesia especially in the large cities of Jakarta, Surabaya etc.
As a new variant of COVID -19 plaguing the hospital's creating overcrowding it is time to get serious according to the President.
It was not until late last night it was finally announced that most regencies of Bali will also follow the new PPKM protocol.
This action was announced even though statistics on the number of cases and the number of deaths in Bali have dropped dramatically in recent months.
Even though in just this past week there was one day that there was zero deaths from the disease they have decided to implement PPKM protocol to gain total control and prevent any mirroring of what is happening on the main town of Java.
Details of PPKM Emergency Protocol:
In a televised statement, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan said that the restrictions must be enforced as the country has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases of about 230 per cent since the end of May.
1."I believe our preparation (for the PPKM Emergency) is the most maximum," said Mr Pandjaitan.
2. The minister said that restaurants, cafes and street food vendors can only serve customers for take-aways.
3.
He also said that people's movements will be restricted according to the sectors that they work in. There are three different categories, namely non-essential, essential and critical sectors.4. All employees in the critical sectors can work in the office. These sectors includes energy, health, security, logistics and transportation, food industry, petrochemical as well as utilities among others that supply basic daily needs.
5. Those in the essential sectors can work in the office with a maximum capacity of 50 per cent and under strict health protocols. These sectors include finance and banking, payment systems, information and communication technology, hotels that do not handle COVID-19 patients as well as export industries.
6. Meanwhile, all employees in the non-essential sectors must work from home.
7. Grocery stores, supermarkets, minimarkets, and wet markets can be operational until 8pm with a capacity of 50 per cent, while pharmacies can operate for 24 hours.
8. All students must study from home. Places of worship, sports facilities, and public facilities such as parks must shut.
9. Wedding receptions can be held with a maximum of 30 people and no dining-in, while public transport may operate with a maximum of 70 per cent capacity.
10. People who want to travel by plane, bus or train must at least be vaccinated once and present their vaccination card. They must also have a negative PCR test that is taken two days prior to boarding a flight.
Authorities have classified regions in Indonesia into four levels with level 1 being the safest and level 4 showing the highest levels of transmission.
The levels are determined by World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines that 50 confirmed cases daily per 100,000 people would be considered level 4.
There are 48 regencies or cities in Java and Bali which are classified as level 4. Seventy-four regencies and cities are classified as level 3, according to the government.
The new curbs are stricter than current regulations which allow malls to operate until 8pm, while restaurants are allowed to serve diners at up to 25 per cent of their capacity.
Basically, for those of us to live in Bali it simply means that the malls will be closed which means theatres will also be closed.
Grocery stores must only have 50% of occupancy.( which will be hard to determine and control) and close by 8 PM.
Pharmacies and Apotik’s are allowed to stay open 24 hours.
Sadly, for my fellow restaurant owners and hoteliers all restaurants are now not allowed to have dining in which means only take away or Gojek delivery.
Nonessential business must have all their staff work at home and essential businesses only allowed to have 50% staff working.
The PPKM protocol is estimated to last until July 20th. Which means sadly that our two boys will have to endure this new protocol until when they go back to school.
There are some bright spots on the COVID - 19 horizon as Thailand, our main competition in Asia has opened their doors as of yesterday to those who have vaccinations and PCR tests before they arrive.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Also, Singapore appears to be taking a stance that they should just treat this as a normal flu which of course, will have cases and deaths, and open their doors as well.
As soon as this approximately two-week period is over we should reopen the International Terminal at Bali’s International Airport.
Foreigners should be allowed to return on tourist visas providing they have proof of a vaccination, and they have proof of having a swab test before they arrive plus another swab test when they arrive.
Part of the conditions to come to Bali should be that they must be quarantine for five days at one of the hotels in the Green Zones such as the Hyatt Regency in our Green zone.
This will not be so bad since these are large hotels with huge grounds and beach where they can walk around.
After the quarantine they can book luxury villas at COVID – 19 prices as low as eight dollars per guest per night just across the street from the Hyatt Regency at our Bali Luxury Villas.
The bottom line is unless they open the International Terminal there may be far more deaths from suicides caused by depression than there will be from COVID - 19.
As many professionals and countries throughout the world have stated recently COVID - 19 is not going away soon. It's something we may have to live with for years, if not forever.
Practically every area of the world is now infected with COVID - 19 and most have a much higher percentage case load and death rate than Bali. So those wishing to go on a vacation after a year and a half of this pandemic may finally realize they are just as safe to go to Bali or even safer than their own hometown or country.
With the vaccinations in Bali reaching over 50% already and perhaps 70% soon, which is what they need for herd immunity, I think Bali will be one of the first resort areas in the world to come out of this.
There is plenty of light at the end of the tunnel. You just need to look for it.
Let's not forget that
earlier this year Bali was named “The number one destination in the world” by
the readers of Tripadvisor, the largest online website in the world. They moved
up from fourth place to first place.
This means that more tourists wish to visit Bali than any other location in the world.
As soon as the doors opened they will come in.
So long as they have their vaccinations and their tests plus quarantine I see no reason why we should fear any rising cases or deaths from opening the doors to them.
As always stays educated and stay safe.
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