JAKARTA: Indonesia cut short its year-end holiday in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus infections, after a long weekend in October led to a spike in confirmed cases weeks later.
The government shortened the break by three days, setting Dec 24 to 25 as well as Dec 31 to Jan 1 as public holidays, compared with an 11-day-long stretch previously.
The holiday had been lengthened as days were moved from the mid-year Eid al-Fitr holiday, which had also been cut short.
The country is grappling with Southeast Asia’s largest outbreak, with more than half a million cases confirmed so far.
An association of doctors had urged the government to shorten or even scrap the holiday entirely as health workers struggled to keep up with the workload.
The shorter holiday could deal a blow to airlines as well as tourist hot spots like Bali, which had banked on the year-end for a revival in consumer demand.