Realized that people intended to beat the mudik ban by traveling before May 6, the COVID-19 Task Force has issued a circular updating the mudik homecoming exodus ban, which, after the revision, comes into effect today.
The task force has pushed forward the start of the mudik ban to April 22 from May 6 previously and pushed back the last day of the ban to May 24 from May 17 previously.
Before the pandemic, the annual homecoming exodus tradition usually saw around 30 million Indonesians visiting their hometowns annually.
This year, police are setting up roadblocks on major toll roads to turn back mudik travelers, while suspensions to travel by air, rail, and sea will also come into effect.
Some exceptions, such as emergency and official travel, apply.
This will be the second year for the mudik ban to take place after the policy was first introduced last year to reduce potential risks of COVID-19 transmission.
Indonesia recorded hundreds of daily new cases prior to the Eid holiday last year, but the daily count shot beyond the four-digit mark a couple of weeks after Eid, which was partly attributed to mudik.
