The government has imposed restrictions on international travelers who want to enter Indonesia. Foreign nationals (foreigners) who in the last 14 days have a history of traveling to 11 countries are not allowed to enter the territory of the country.
For information, these 11 countries recorded cases of a new variant of the coronavirus B.1.1.529 or the Omicron variant.
Eleven countries on the list, from South Africa to Hong Kong
The details are:
- South Africa
- Botswana Get information, inspiration and insight in your email. Register email
- Namibia Read also: Minister of Health: Until now Indonesia has not observed the Omicron variant
- Zimbabwe
- Lesotho
- Mozambique
- Eswatini
- Malawi
- Angola
- Zambia
- Hong Kong
Meanwhile, Indonesian citizens (WNI) who have a history of travel to these countries and want to enter the territory of the Republic of Indonesia are required to quarantine for 14 days.
The government will also increase the quarantine time for foreigners and Indonesian citizens entering Indonesia who come from countries outside the 11 countries that are in the spotlight.
Quarantine time will be increased to 7 days from the previous 3 days. The entire travel restriction policy will take effect on November 29, 2021 at 00:01.
“The list of these countries can increase or decrease based on periodic evaluations carried out by the government,” said Luhut. To further prevent the entry of the Omicron variant, Luhut said, the Ministry of Health will improve whole-genome sequencing, especially in positive cases of Covid-19 from travel history abroad.
Luhut also warned all parties to be vigilant and improve health protocols to prevent the coronavirus. Nevertheless, he asked the public not to panic in as to face this new variant.
“Based on our recent experience dealing with the variant Delta, when we are all united, hand in hand, there is no need to blame each other because what we have decided, the government has also received input from our epidemiologists,” said the Java-Bali PPKM Coordinator.
For information, on Thursday (11/26/2021) South African officials announced the emergence of a new variant of the coronavirus in their country. Variant B.1.1.529 which was first detected in Botswana is known to carry many mutations of the coronavirus.
According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), which is managed by the local government, as many as 22 cases of Covid-19 from infection with variant B.1.1.529 were recorded in the country after genome sequencing.
The NICD said the number of cases of the new Botswana variant detected and the percentage of people who tested positive indicated a rapid increase in the spread across the country’s three provinces.
This variant is suspected of being able to penetrate the immunity of people who have received the Covid-19 vaccination so that it can extend the Covid-19 pandemic which has lasted for almost two years. Omicron is potentially more infectious than previous variants, although experts don’t yet know whether it will cause more or less severe Covid-19 than the other variants.
