Antara, Jakarta – Based on an evaluation, there was a significant decline in the number of people who went home for Eid al-Fitr between May 6 and May 9, 2021, stated Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi.
The government is continuing to strive to reduce the rate of public mobility in the Eid Homecoming journey in order to keep people safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.
"In air transportation, there has been a decrease of up to 93 percent; in sea, trains, about 90 percent; on land, the decrease has been about 40 percent," Sadikin explained while delivering a press statement at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Monday, after attending a limited meeting with President Joko Widodo.
He lauded the public, the Indonesian Military (TNI), and the National Police (Polri), as well as local governments, saying they have responded well to control the homecoming exodus effectively.
"We also appreciate the TNI-Polri and the local government for making good efforts. Yesterday, we visited three places, Merak, Bakauheni, and Brebes, the decrease was so significant, as much as 90 percent," he said.
The policy to ban the Eid al-Fitr homecoming exodus, which the government decided upon some time ago, is intended to prevent community mobility so as to not allow the COVID-19 pandemic to become more widespread, the minister explained.
However, the government has still opened access for smooth mobility of transportation for logistical needs to meet community requirements, he said.
"For the logistics sector, it (traffic) only decreased by about 3-5 percent," he disclosed.
Earlier, on April 22-May 5, 2021, there had been an increase in people traveling out of their place of origin by 20 to 30 percent, he said.
Therefore, the government tightened the requirements for travelers by mandating the results of PCR Antigen and GeNose swabs, obtained within 1x24 hours of travel.
"From the monitoring we saw in the survey, this Eid homecoming exodus could still increase maybe tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Therefore, we urge our brothers not to go home," the minister said.
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1461373/number-of-eid-homecoming-travelers-down-significantly-says-ministe