Indonesian police block streets on first day of tougher Covid-19 curbs

This aerial picture shows streets partly deserted in Jakarta as Indonesia imposed a partial lockdown in the capital due to the Covid-19 coronavirus Delta variant.

Indonesian police threw up road blocks and more than 400 checkpoints on the islands of Java and Bali to ensure hundreds ofmns of people stayed home on Saturday, the first day of stricter curbs on movement to limit the spread of Covid-19. As it battles one of Asia's worst coronavirus outbreaks, the world's fourth most populous nation has seen record new infections on eight of the past 12 days, with Friday bringing 25,830 cases and a high of 539 deaths. ‘We are setting up (patrols) in 21 locations where typically there are crowds,’ Istiono, the head of national traffic police, who goes by one name, told a news conference late on Friday. ‘Where there are street stalls and cafes, we will close those streets, maybe from around 6 p.m. until 4 a.m.’