Balinese authorities have come up with some innovative ways to punish those who break Covid rules.
Those found in breach of Covid protocols – mostly foreigners and tourists – have been made to do push-ups and sweep the streets as a punishment for not wearing masks.
If you're caught without a face mask in Bali, you might have to exercise your way out of trouble https://t.co/sMXscspB8g
— ABC News (@abcnews) January 17, 2021
Last week alone, local authorities in Budung Regency area – home to tourist hotspots like Kuta and Seminyak beaches – recorded the highest number of protocol breaches in all of Bali – 8,864 up to the end last week.
According to Badung regency Public Order Agency chief I Gusti Agung Kerta Suryanegara, 80 per cent of people who had been fined for COVID breaches were foreigners, mostly Europeans, who had seemed to underestimate the strictures in place in Bali.
“We didn’t fine those who had admitted their mistakes,” Mr Suryanegara told Australian news channel ABC, “we didn’t just fine people randomly because they didn’t wear masks.”
According to Indonesia’s National COVID-19 Task Force, the compliance rates for wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing in Bali is 96.5% and 92% respectively, the highest rates in Indonesia.
