Indonesia cuts short this yr's Xmas holidays

Jakarta, June 19 (IANS) The Indonesian government has cut short this year's Christmas holidays and shifted dates of two other festivities amid an ongoing surge in Covid-19 cases, a senior Minister said.In a statement on Friday, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs Muhadjir Effendy said the Christmas holidays which lasted two days in previous years was cut to just one day, namely only December 25, reports Xinhua news agency.The Indonesian government has also moved the date of Islamic New Year from August 10 to 11, and that of the Prophet Muhammad's birth anniversary from October 19 to 20.Indonesia on Friday recorded 12,990 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, marking the highest single-day spike since late January and bringing the total tally to 1,963,266, the Health Ministry said.Meanwhile, the death toll added by 290 to 54,043.The pandemic has spread to all of the country's 34 provinces.
--IANS ksk/