Jakarta – The Jakarta administration has collected billions of rupiah in fines from violators of the capital's large-scale social restrictions (PSBB), amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) head Arifin said the agency had collected a total of Rp 2.47 billion (US$188,120) in fines from violators of the PSBB, which have been extended until Aug. 13.
Kompas.com reported that most of the fines were collected from people found not wearing face masks in public places.
As of Monday, the agency had fined 62,198 people for not wearing masks, Arifin said.
Satpol PP officers have also fined businesses that have failed to adhere to health protocols, such as limiting the number of visitors to only 50 percent of the premise's capacity.
"The rest [of the fines] were collected from social and cultural events held by tourism business operators," Arifin said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.
The provincial administration imposed the fines to improve public compliance with the health protocols, as the pandemic has shown no signs of abating anytime soon.
"We hope this acts as a deterrent effect so that the public can be disciplined and abide by the established rules," Arifin said.
According to the government count, Jakarta has recorded 23,380 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday, with 888 deaths and 14,760 recoveries.
Governor Anies Baswedan extended the transitional PSBB period for two weeks on July 30 after the daily increase of COVID-19 cases failed to see a reverse trend. (rfa)