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Indonesia bans foreign arrivals from India
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(Courtesy of Ditjen Imigrasi)
Starting Saturday, the government is barring entry to all foreign nationals arriving from India.
Jhoni Ginting, the Immigration director general, said in a statement that the policy was made in response to the ongoing surge in daily COVID-19 cases in the South Asian country.
“Along with restricting access to foreigners, we are also temporarily suspending visa issuances for Indian nationals,” he said.
The ban applies only to foreign nationals who have traveled to India 14 days prior to their arrival in Indonesia. While Indonesians are exempt from the policy, Jhoni said the government had decided to limit the number of immigration checkpoints.
Flights arriving from India will be directed to four designated international airports: Soekarno-Hatta airport in Tangerang, Banten, Juanda airport in Surabaya, East Java, Kualanamu airport in Medan, North Sumatra, and Sam Ratulangi airport in Manado, North Sulawesi.
Meanwhile, arrivals by sea will be restricted to international ferry terminals at three ports, all in Riau province: Batam Center Point in Batam Port, the Sri Bintan Pura ferry terminal in Tanjung Pinang, and the passenger terminal at Dumai Port.
“Indonesian nationals who wish to return must still follow the strict health protocols as required by the COVID-19 Task Force,” Jhoni advised. He stressed that the policy was a temporary measure and would be reviewed regularly according to the situation in India.
The policy entered into force on April 24, when India recorded almost 349,000 new cases along with 2,797 deaths, according to The Hindu daily. The following day on Sunday, the country’s cumulative tally hit above 17.3 million cases and more than 195,000 deaths, with a record high of nearly 355,000 cases for the fourth consecutive day.
