JAKARTA: Indonesia will gradually reopen parts of the country where COVID-19 vaccination rates are above 70%, its President Joko Widodo told a Southeast Asian business forum on Monday.

Jokowi, as the president is known, also said Southeast Asia should start loosening travel restrictions, including vaccinated lanes for inoculated arrivals with negative COVID-19 tests.

He said it was important the region reforms to prepare for future health crises.