The Community Activities Restrictions Enforcement or CARE (, commonly referred to as the PPKM) was a cordon sanitaire policy of the Indonesian government since early 2021 to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the implementation of CARE, the government had implemented large-scale social restrictions (LSSR) which took place in a number of regions in Indonesia.
On 30 December 2022, President Joko Widodo announced that the CARE policy had ended for all regions in Indonesia.
Background The Indonesian government first implemented CARE from 11 to 25 January 2021. The two weeks implementation of CARE was carried out based on the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Number 1 of 2021 and was implemented in the island of Java and Bali. Previously, in 2020, a number of provinces had implemented large-scale social restrictions (LSSR) to prevent the spread of COVID-19. According to Airlangga Hartanto as Chair of the (KPC-PEN), the initial initiative to apply for LSSR was with the regional government, while CARE was with the central government. The Deputy Chairperson of KPC-PEN Luhut Panjaitan said that LSSR was carried out non-uniformly, while CARE could be applied uniformly.
CARE Levels On 21 July 2021, Tito Karnavian as Minister of Home Affairs announced a new term regarding the CARE mechanism with a scale from the first to the fourth level. The government can determine that an area can apply CARE based on the rate of transmission and the number of active cases of COVID-19 in an area. All cases were counted per 100,000 population per week. +LevelConfirmed caseInpatientPatient diedLevel of riskILess than 20 peopleLess than 5 peopleLess than 1 personLowII20–50 people5–10 peopleLess than 2 peopleIntermediateIII50–100 people10–30 people2–5 peopleHighIVMore than 150 peopleMore than 30 peopleMore than 5 peopleVery high
Enforcement Summary The following table contains a summary of the implementation of CARE, micro-CARE and emergency CARE which consists of several stages. PolicyStageStartUp toLegal basisProvincesRefCARE11 January 202125 January 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 1 of 20217 provinces(Jakarta SCR, West Java, Banten, Central Java, Special Region of Yogyakarta, East Java, Bali)26 January 20218 February 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 2 of 20217 provincesCAREmicro-scale9 February 202122 February 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 3 of 20217 provinces23 February 20218 March 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 4 of 20217 provinces9 March 202122 March 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 5 of 202110 provinces(addition: North Sumatra, East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi)23 March 20215 April 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 6 of 202115 provinces(addition: North Sulawesi, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara)6 April 202119 April 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 7 of 202120 provinces(addition: North Kalimantan, Aceh, South Sumatra, Riau, Papua)20 April 20213 May 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 9 of 202125 provinces(addition: West Sumatra, Jambi, Lampung, West Kalimantan, Bangka Belitung Islands)4 May 202117 May 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 10 of 202130 provinces(addition: Riau Islands, Bengkulu, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, West Papua)18 May 202131 May 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 11 of 202130 provinces1 June 202114 June 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 12 of 202134 provinces(addition: Gorontalo, Maluku, North Maluku, West Sulawesi)15 June 202128 June 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 13 of 202134 provinces22 June 20215 July 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 14 of 202134 provinces6 July 202120 July 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 17 and Number 20 of 202134 provinces21 July 202125 July 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 23 of 202134 provincesEmergency CARE3 July 202120 July 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 15, Number 16, Number 18, and Number 19 of 2021Java and Bali12 July 202120 July 202115 regions outside Java–BaliCARE level 1–421 July 202125 July 2021Minister of Home Affairs Instruction Number 22 and Number 23 of 2021A number of provinces26 July 20212 August 2021A number of provinces3 August 20219 August 2021A number of provinces10 August 202116 August 2021 (23 August 2021 outside Java and Bali)A number of provinces17 August 202123 August 2021A number of provinces24 August 202130 August 2021 (6 September 2021 outside Java and Bali)A number of provinces31 August 20216 September 2021A number of provinces7 September 202113 September 2021 (20 September 2021 outside Java and Bali)A number of provinces14 September 202120 September 2021A number of provinces21 September 20214 October 2021A number of provinces5 October 202118 October 2021A number of provinces19 October 20211 November 2021 (8 November 2021 outside Java and Bali)A number of provinces2 November 202115 November 2021Java and Bali9 November 202122 November 2021A number of provinces outside Java and Bali16 November 202129 November 2021Java and Bali23 November 20216 December 2021A number of provinces outside Java and Bali30 November 202113 December 2021Java and Bali7 December 202123 December 2021A number of provinces outside Java and Bali14 December 20213 January 2022Java and Bali24 December 20213 January 2022A number of provinces outside Java and Bali4 January 202217 January 2022A number of provinces18 January 202224 January 2022A number of provinces25 January 202231 January 2022A number of provinces1 February 20227 February 2022 (14 February 2022 outside Java and Bali)A number of provinces8 February 202214 February 2022Java and Bali15 February 202221 February 2022 (28 February 2022 outside Java and Bali)A number of provinces22 February 202228 February 2022Java and Bali1 March 20227 March 2022 (14 March 2022 outside Java and Bali)A number of provinces
First-stage CARE The first stage of CARE will be implemented in seven provinces in Java and Bali, namely Jakarta Special Capital Region, West Java, Banten, Central Java, Special Region of Yogyakarta, East Java, and Bali, starting from 11 January to 25 January 2021. A number of districts/cities in each province are prioritized to implement PPKM. There are four elements used as parameters for provinces, districts, or cities in the implementation of CARE, namely having a death rate above the national average death rate, cure rate below the national average, active case rate above the national average active case rate, and hospital bed occupancy rate for intensive care unit (ICU) and isolation room above 70%.
Restrictions on community activities are regulated in the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs Number 1 of 2021, namely: limiting the workplace/office by implementing remote work by 75% and working from office (WFO) by 25% by implementing stricter health protocols; carry out online teaching and learning activities; essential sectors related to the basic needs of the community can still operate 100% with more stringent regulation of operating hours, capacity, and implementation of health protocols; make settings for the application of restrictions: restaurant activities (eating/drinking on site by 25% and for food service via delivery or take-away are still permitted according to restaurant operating hours with stricter implementation of health protocols; and restriction of operating hours for shopping centers/malls until 7:00 PM WIB (Indonesian Western Time); allow construction activities to operate 100% with stricter implementation of health protocols; allow places of worship to operate with a capacity limitation of 50% with the implementation of stricter health protocols;
Second-stage CARE The government has extended the CARE through the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs Number 2 of 2021. The second-stage CARE will be held from 26 January to 8 February 2021. In this second stage, the operating hours of shopping centers/malls are changed to 8:00 PM WIB. Meanwhile, based on the results of monitoring of 73 regencies/cities that have implemented PPKM, as many as 29 regencies/cities are still in the high-risk zone, 41 regencies/cities are in the moderate risk zone, and the remaining 3 regencies/cities are in the low-risk zone.
Micro-based CARE After being implemented for two stages in which the results were economically ineffective, CARE was changed to micro-based CARE from 9 to 22 February 2021. As before, micro PPKM was implemented in a number of areas in seven provinces. However, in contrast to PPKM, in micro PPKM there are arrangements regarding the establishment of COVID-19 handling posts at village and sub-district levels, the operating hours of shopping centers/malls are more loosely regulated, namely until 9:00 PM WIB (Indonesian Western Time), as well as looser office restrictions, namely 50% working from the office and 50% working from home.
In micro-CARE, restrictions are made at the level of the rukun tetangga (neighbourhood) and rukun warga (hamlet). Based on the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs Number 3 of 2021, there are four control zones for the spread of COVID-19 in each RT. Green zone — there are no cases of COVID-19 transmission in one RT area. Control scenarios: active surveillance, testing of all suspects, and routine and periodic case monitoring. Second zone — there are 1 to 5 houses confirmed positive in one RT during the last seven days. Control scenarios: finding suspects and tracing close contacts, as well as self-isolation for positive patients and close contacts under close supervision. Orange zone — there are 6 to 10 houses with confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in one RT during the last seven days. Control scenario: finding superfluous cases and close contact tracing, as well as self-isolation in positive patients and close contacts under close supervision, closure of houses of worship, children's playgrounds, and other public places, other than essential sectors that are still allowed to operate. Red zone — there are more than ten houses that have confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in one RT during the last seven days. Control scenario: finding suspected cases and tracing close contacts, self-isolate or centrally under strict supervision, closing houses of worship, children's play areas, and other public places except for the essential sector, prohibit crowds of more than three people, limiting entry and exit from the RT area to a maximum of 8:00 PM WIB, and eliminate community social activities in the RT environment that cause crowds and have the potential to cause transmission. After being implemented for two weeks, the government extended the micro PPKM many times. On June 7, 2021, the Head of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Ganip Warsito conducted an evaluation of the Micro PPKM, examining from the surge in COVID-19 cases in Kudus, Central Java to implement better monitoring and evaluating of the data.
Emergency CARE
Emergency CARE takes effect from 3 to 25 July 2021, which targets a decrease in the addition of daily confirmed cases to below 10 thousand cases per day. This program is implemented in 136 districts/cities throughout Indonesia by differentiating the level of treatment based on the assessment value by using an approach between the indicators of transmission rate and response capacity, including the level of availability of beds in hospitals.
The tightening of activities carried out includes:
100% remote work for non-essential sectors; All teaching and learning activities are conducted online;