ER
INDONESIAN government has added to the list of countries that are prohibited from entering Indonesia (RI) following the widespread spread of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 case. The government added three countries namely England, Norway and Denmark to the list of countries prohibited from entering Indonesia.
“Following developments, the government will add the UK, Norway and Denmark and remove Hong Kong from the list to consider the rapid deployment of Omicron in the three countries,” said Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Panjaitan after a limited meeting.
Previously, there were 11 countries that were prohibited from entering Indonesia to anticipate the expansion of the Omicron variant. The eleven countries include: South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini, and Lesotho.
It is possible that the number of countries banned from entering will increase if the Omicron variant gets worse. The government said Luhut continued to monitor the development of the Omicron variant, which has now entered 90 countries.
“I think we will see, if later many other countries get worse, yes we will also adjust,” he said.
He added that to anticipate the entry of the Omicron variant into Indonesia, the government asked the public not to travel abroad. I repeat the government urges people not to travel abroad because the situation is so severe right now around the world.
Will Extend Quarantine Period
Luhut said the quarantine period would be extended if the Omicron variant expanded. If the Omicron variant continues to increase, the quarantine period for foreign travelers will be extended to 14 days.
“Therefore, we decided that the meeting was very considerate, very considerate of increasing the quarantine period to 14 days if the spread of the Omicron variant is more widespread,” Luhut said after the limited meeting.
One of the anticipatory steps so that the Omicron variant does not expand, said Luhut, is to refrain from traveling abroad. Because he said the Omicron variant has entered many countries.
“I repeat the government urges people not to travel abroad because the situation is so severe now around the world,” he said.
The government said Luhut made various efforts to anticipate the entry of the Omicron variant into Indonesia. One of them is by tightening the gates for arrivals to Indonesia. The entry of the Omicron variant needs to be watched out for, but don’t panic.
“There is no need to panic because all of our preparations are much better than in May, June, July this year,” Luhut concluded. [sources/photo special]
