Indonesia drops remaining Covid rules

Jakarta, Dec 30 (EFE).- Indonesian president Joko Widodo on Friday lifted the country’s last remaining Covid-19 restrictions, including the mandatory wearing of masks inside buildings, amid declining infection rates.

At a press conference, Widodo said the decision came with only 685 active cases in the country and hospital bed occupancy at 4.79 percent, the official Antara news agency reported.

Authorities had already lifted most of the restrictions, but some measures remained, such as a mandatory requirement to show a negative test when entering buildings.

Companies will also be able to ask all their employees to return to offices, putting an end to remote working.

Indonesia, which became the epicenter of the epidemic in Asia in July 2021 with up to 50,000 cases per day, is currently recording fewer than 700 infections per day and 64 percent of the population has been vaccinated.

Local authorities have not announced any measures in view of the relaxation of measures against Covid-19 in China, which in January will lift the quarantine on travelers entering the country, which is expected to boost Chinese tourism abroad.

Some countries such as Japan, South Korea, India, the United States and Italy have approved measures such as requesting PCR to flights from China in the face of fear for the increase of infections in the Asian giant after eliminating the zero Covid policy. EFE

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