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Indonesia reopens travel corridors amid fears of new virus variants
The foreign entry ban, with its new exemptions, will be reviewed regularly and enforced until further notice, officials have said.
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Travelers walk toward a checkpoint prior to boarding their planes at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on Dec. 23, 2020. (Antara/Muhammad Iqbal)
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fter having extended travel restrictions three times since they were introduced at the end of last year, Indonesia has reopened its existing international travel corridors, even though infection rates remain high in the country.
Throughout 2020, Indonesia worked to establish travel corridors for essential business, also known as reciprocal green lanes, with the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, China and Singapore.
An ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework has also been agreed upon, but ASEAN member states are still negotiating its implementation.
Essential business travel corridors typically allow only essential industry stakeholders or state officials to cross borders without undergoing quarantine – provided they have sponsors in their destination country.
The government announced on Dec. 28 that it was closing its borders to foreigners who did not have stay permits amid concerns over coronavirus variants from overseas, including a highly transmissible one detected in the United Kingdom.
The nation’s borders were closed during the first two weeks of 2021, and the policy was later extended, first to Jan. 28, then to Feb. 8. On Tuesday, the national COVID-19 task force announced that several groups of foreigners, including those traveling under travel corridor arrangements, would be allowed to enter Indonesia again.
Read also: Poor COVID-19 testing throws travel corridor, labor plans up in air
