A paramedic performs the COVID-19 rapid test for a man in North Sumatra, Indonesia, April 23, 2020. The Indonesian government on Thursday announced 357 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the archipelagic country to 7,775. (Photo by Jefri Tarigan/Xinhua)
JAKARTA, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia will ban all air and sea travel until June this year, commencing on Friday as an effort to curb the further spread of the COVID-19 virus, the Transportation Ministry said on Thursday.
The ban on air travel will be effective till June 1, and that on sea travel till June 8, the ministry's spokesperson Adita Irawati said.
Cargo transportation and other transportation in support of anti-pandemic efforts are exempted from the ban, the ministry's Director General for Aviation Novie Riyanto Rahardjo said.
The transports for top officials of state institutions, state guests, representatives of foreign nations, international organizations, repatriations of Indonesian citizens from abroad or return of foreign nationals to their countries are also excluded from the ban, Rahardjo said.
Indonesia has been striving to cut the transmission chains of the COVID-19 by applying partial lockdowns in some big cities including the country's capital Jakarta, and prohibiting the tradition of exodus for celebrating the Islamic festivity in the world's biggest Muslim country.
The COVID-19 keeps spreading across the country as of Thursday as the number of casualties due to the disease rose to 647 with the number of infection cases climbing to 7,775, the government's spokesman for the COVID-19 Related Matters Achmad Yurianto announced.
