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COORDINATING Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan appealed to the public to prefer to vacation in the country, rather than having to go abroad to avoid the potential transmission of the Omicron variant of the corona virus.
The recommendation was conveyed by Minister Luhut because the Corona virus variant B.1.1.529 Omicron has the ability to spread very quickly, and the number of countries infected with Omicron continues to grow.
“Don’t bring disease into the country. We don’t want Omicron to be brought in by those who go on vacation outside. We recommend taking a vacation in the country, we will hold on until things get better,” Luhut said in an online press conference monitored from the Presidential Secretariat Youtube, Jakarta, Monday (12/13).
Luhut emphasized that people should not travel abroad if they do not have urgent interests. The government reminds the public not to go abroad first, except for really urgent interests.
Citing data from the state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura, Luhut added that there was a significant increase of up to two times the flight to overseas destinations under normal conditions. Therefore, the government is anticipating carefully the return of people from abroad by continuing and imposing a 10-day quarantine.
“The additional capacity of quarantine homes and hotels is to anticipate the increase in the number of people being quarantined. The quarantine policy for foreign travelers will continue to be evaluated in accordance with the development of the Omicron variant,” Luhut stated.
He concluded that so far more than 70 countries or regions have detected the entry of the Omicron variant. The UK, one of the countries that has detected transmission of Omicron, has raised its COVID-19 alert level from level 3 to level 4, following the addition of 1,239 cases of the Omicron variant on Sunday, December 12, 2021. [antaranews]
