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Archive photo—One of the malls in North Jakarta that was found violating the health protocols on January 22, 2022. (ANTARA/Dewa Ketut Sudiarta Wiguna/rst) - 

Jakarta's Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) said it has intensified the supervision of health protocols by targeting public places, business areas, and offices to anticipate an increase in COVID-19 cases.

"We will be focusing on surveillance in places that are prone to crowds," Head of the Jakarta Satpol PP Arifin said on Friday.

Satpol PP will monitor public spaces such as city parks, traditional markets, shopping centers, and tourist areas, he added.

In January 2022, as many as 38,043 Jakarta residents received social work sanctions for not wearing masks and 446 people paid administrative fines that were added to the regional treasury, he informed.

In addition, the agency inspected 6,962 cafes and restaurants to ensure the implementation of health protocols by diners, Arifin said.

Of the total cafes and restaurants monitored, 356 were found to have violated the health protocols in January and had to shell out a fine of Rp10.5 million in total, he informed.

Cafes and restaurants in Jakarta are required to limit operational hours, restrict their seating capacity, and use the PeduliLindungi application, he said.

In addition, in January 2022, the agency also supervised 1,919 offices, of which 155 were taken into account, he said.

Furthermore, Satpol PP supervised 5,885 other business places, he said. As many as 326 places were found violating the health protocols on the gathering of crowds and had to pay a fine of Rp 20 million, he added.

The supervision and disciplinary actions were carried out based on the Governor's Regulation Number 3 of 2021 concerning the Implementation of Regional Regulation Number 2 of 2020 concerning the Prevention of COVID-19 in Jakarta Province, he informed.

Business actors were also asked to comply with the provisions of the health protocols, according to the public activity restriction (PPKM) level as well as the rules for operational hours and capacity restrictions, he said.

The public can also assist the government in conducting surveillance by reporting PPKM violations through the JakLapor feature in the JAKI application, he added.

"Do not harm businesses who have tried to comply with the provisions," Arifin said. 

He also reminded the public not to trick officers in the field since the effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 requires cooperation and awareness from all elements in the society//ANT