Sudden rise in COVID-19 cases forcing tourist sites for temporary close down

Saturday, October 17, 2020

The operator of the Muaro Jambi Temple compound, a Buddhist temple complex and a well-known tourist destination in the Jambi province of Muaro Jambi regency in Sumatra, Indonesia, has closed the site once again for the public temporarily after experiencing the rise of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the area in the last two weeks. Since Oct. 6th, the site has been closed and will remain in the same way until Oct. 19th. Before, in July, the temple opened once after being closed to the public for four lockdown months, tempo.co reported on Wednesday. Also, the closure applies to the Muara Jambi tourism village. This village is located close to the temple. The Muara Jambi village administration at the site has put up a sign board which informs the public in regard to the temporary closure to contain the virus transmission. Due to the closure, majority of shops, including bicycle rentals, were seen to be out of business.

The Muaro Jambi site is a Buddhist temple complex. It is situated about 26 kilometers east of the city of Jambi. The archaeological site has eight excavated temple sanctuaries and it spreads across about 12 square kilometers, stretching 7.5 kilometers along the Batang Hari River. About 80 menapos, or mounds of temple wrecks, are not yet restored. In Southeast Asia, this site is one of the largest and best-preserved ancient temple complexes.

Jambi has recorded 526 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, with 318 recoveries and 18 mortalities. The regency of Muaro Jambi has logged 108 confirmed cases and 27 deaths, and 466 suspected cases. In the meantime, the Ragunan Zoo in Jakarta has reopened on Monday. It is adhering to with strict terms and conditions to comply with COVID-19 health protocol.

Visitors in this zoo are required to apply for a visit prior to their arrival, as per the zoo’s website at ragunanzoo.jakarta.go.id.

Also, the zoo offers virtual tours. This tour has helped it maintaining its public engagement while it was physically closed in response to the pandemic.

“We’re maintaining the zoo’s virtual tour. On Sunday, we just presented the sun bears in the program,” Ragunan Zoo promotion officer Ketut Widarsana said on Tuesday as quoted by tempo.co.

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