Travellers walk toward a checkpoint prior to boarding their planes at Terminal 3 in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia on Wednesday. ANTARA/THE JAKARTA POST
The Indonesian government has drawn up a list of preventive measures following a new coronavirus variant that was discovered in the UK, says national Covid-19 task force chief Doni Monardo.
On December 24, Doni said Minister of Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan had conducted a ministerial meeting in the previous week to anticipate the new strain of the coronavirus, which has reportedly been detected in Australia and Singapore.
In the meeting, Luhut also invited epidemiologists to provide the government with insight and feedback regarding Covid-19 mitigation in the country.
The task force, Doni went on to say, had also attempted to reduce the chances of coronavirus transmission in the country by limiting entry for foreigners and Indonesians who departed from countries that had detected the new Covid-19 strain, including the UK.
“The government has started denying entry to British nationals, hopefully this can protect our people,” said Doni during December 24’s virtual discussion entitled Outlook 2021: Wajah Indonesia Setelah Pandemi (What Indonesia will look like after the pandemic).
In regard to the new coronavirus strain, the task force has also released an addendum to task force Circular No 3/2020 on travel health protocols for the Christmas and New Year holidays during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The additional regulations include a temporary ban on entrance permits for foreigners travelling from the UK, as well as stricter health protocols for Indonesians and foreigners coming from European countries and Australia to Indonesia.
Indonesians who wish to return home from the UK are required to show a negative PCR test result, taken at most 48 hours prior to their departure. They are also required to undergo a five-day quarantine starting from their arrival date.
Those travelling in from Europe and Australia are required to present a negative result from a PCR test taken in their country of origin no more than 48 hours before departure.
The policy is effective from December 22 to January 8, next year. Doni said up to 3,000 foreigners who entered Indonesia were tested positive for Covid-19.
“The cases could increase rapidly if we do not maximise the efforts of our airport personnel,” he added. On December 21, scientists from the UK’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) discovered a new variant of coronavirus that has been spreading rapidly in Britain, Reuters reported.
The new variant is said to carry mutations that make children more susceptible to coronavirus infection than with the previous strains. Moreover, the emerging mutated SARS-CoV-2 variant is up to 70 per cent more transmissible compared to the previous strain in the UK. So far, the cases have also been detected in Denmark and Australia.
This has prompted a number of countries to close their borders with Britain as well as impose travel restrictions for its nationals. The Philippines, Canada, India, Hungary, and Switzerland are among the countries that have halted flights from Britain.
THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
