Hanoi (VNA) –♒ The Indonesian Government has decided to ban crowds congregating tocelebrate Christmas 2020 and New Year 2021 in public places to prevent a spikein the number of COVID-19 cases.

The decision was takenat a virtual coordination meeting for COVID-19 handling in Jakarta, West Java,Central Java, East Java, and Bali chaired by Coordinating Minister for MaritimeAffairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. The minister orderedto apply stricter restrictions against COVID-19 from December 18 to January 8next year. A significant rise inconfirmed cases was recorded after the holidays and joint leave at the end ofOctober that necessitated the Indonesian government to tighten restrictions. In Jakarta, 75 percentof the capital city's employees are urged to work from home. The policy of limitingoperating hours to 7pm and limit the number of people gathering at restaurants,malls, and entertainment venues will be continued, the Indonesian minister affirmed. Religious,anniversary, or celebratory events that can attract crowds must be restrictedor prohibited, he emphasised. According toIndonesia’s Ministry of Health, the country logged 6,120 COVID-19 cases on December15, raising the national tally to 629,429, with a death toll of 19,111. The same day,Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen advised the country’s education ministry tocancel the upcoming high school graduation exam and to determine whether astudent passes or fails based on the results of semester exams. He made the remark ina speech live broadcast on the National Television of Cambodia (TVK). Cambodia's Ministry ofEducation, Youth and Sports recently decided to postpone the annual high schoolgraduation exam to mid-January, 2021 due to ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks. The Southeast Asiannation recorded a locally transmitted case on the day, and has seen a total of362 confirmed COVID-19 cases so far. Meanwhile, Singaporeannounced that it will open a new segregated travel lane for a limited numberof business, official and high economic value travellers from all countriesnext month, as part of efforts to revive its key travel and hospitalitysectors. The first travellerswill be able to arrive from the second half of January through the new lane,which will be open to those who are coming for short-term stays of up to 14days. Travellers under thelatest arrangement will have to stick to strict health and testing protocols,and will need to stay within a “bubble” at segregated facilities. Singapore welcomedonly 13,400 visitors in October, compared to 1.7 million reported in January./.