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Government urges people not to travel abroad as goal of reaching endemic status in sight
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Taking off: International flight passengers queue for check-in at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on Sept. 12. Airport authorities have been screening passengers to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
(Antara/Fauzan)
T
he government has urged people not to travel overseas unless necessary in a bid to protect Indonesia against the emerging Omicron variant, as the country inches closer to transitioning to the endemic phase of COVID-19.
Indonesia has so far not found any cases of Omicron, which has been detected in 70 countries, including neighboring Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.
Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan has asked the public to remain vigilant against the coronavirus even though transmission is currently under control.
"I urge everyone not to go on vacation abroad for a while to avoid bringing [the new coronavirus variant] to Indonesia," Luhut said on Monday. "Although Indonesia is still categorized as a level 1 country [a country with a low-level of COVID-19 transmission] we should not become overly confident and we need to work together to [keep the outbreak under control]."
He was referring to the United States' four-level travel health notice system, which is often used as a global reference.
He instead encouraged people to travel to domestic tourist spots to "help [revive] the country's economy".
He said the transmission curve had been flattening for more than 150 days nationwide and new cases in the populous islands of Java and Bali had dropped by 99 percent from the last peak of infections in July, when Indonesia recorded up to 54,000 new cases a day.
