Yustinus Paat & Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has relaxed coronavirus-related social restrictions by allowing malls, supermarkets and retailers to operate until 09.00 p.m. starting on Tuesday as the surge in newly cases begins to slow.

Business premises were previously ordered to halt operation at 7.00 p.m.

The new ruling by the Home Affairs Ministry came when government figures showed the lowest daily number of confirmed coronavirus cases in more than a month on Monday.

It allows indoor dining and office operations at 50 percent capacity – from 25 percent previously – but stops short of resuming in-person learning at schools.

Indonesia has recorded 8,242 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the lowest daily number since January 5, to bring the country's total to 1.17 million. The total number of active cases stands at 171,288.

The weekly average of newly cases has been in a steady decline in the last five days.

The daily death toll has been fluctuating since the beginning of the month but is trending down when compared to the second half of January.

There have been 1,765 coronavirus-related deaths in the eight-day period, bringing the total death toll to 31,763 or 2.7 percent of confirmed cases. The current seven-day average of daily death toll is the lowest since January 12.

The country has just passed the worst period yet of the outbreak with more than 335,000 cases and 7,860 deaths in January alone. Health experts have said traveling and gathering during the year-end holiday were the major cause for the dramatic surge.

As February came, the surge began to slow in most major hotspots.

However, Jakarta continued to report higher daily numbers, including a record 4,213 cases on Sunday. The capital city has recorded a total of 296,969 cases since the outbreak began, more than any other provinces.

West Java, which has the second-highest number of cases, seems to have been past its peak with the seven-day average declining for the last eight days. The country's most populous province has a total of 169,207 cases.

Other hotspots like Central Java, East Java, South Sulawesi, Riau, West Sumatra and Banten have reported a slower growth in newly cases when compared to the figures in the second half of January.

East Kalimantan is an exception as new cases are rising at a faster speed than two weeks ago. It has been averaging 587 cases since February 1.

The country's four most populous provinces in Java make up around 63 percent of the national death toll, with East Java registering the most Covid deaths of 8,204.

Central Java comes next with 5,660 deaths, followed by Jakarta (4,616), West Java (2,051) and East Kalimantan (1,080).

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/malls-shops-allowed-to-open-until-9-pm-as-postholiday-covid-surge-gon