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Blinken’s entourage sparks COVID-19 scare
A member of a visiting United States delegation tested positive for COVID-19 after a press event in Malaysia, cutting short a tour of Southeast Asia and sparking a health scare in Indonesia, the US official's previous destination.
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United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken boards an aircraft as he departs for Kuala Lumpur from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on the outskirts of Jakarta, on Dec. 14. (AFP/Olivier Douliery)
T
he discovery that a member of United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s entourage had tested positive for COVID-19 in Malaysia has sparked virus fears in Indonesia, just as authorities confirmed the first local case of the Omicron strain.
Blinken canceled his visit to Bangkok, the last leg of his tour of Southeast Asia, after a journalist traveling in his delegation was confirmed positive in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, just a day after spending 30 hours engaged in activities in Jakarta and Depok, West Java.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said that in order to mitigate the risk of the virus spread and prioritize the health of the US traveling party and “those they would otherwise come into contact with”, Blinken would return to Washington “out of an abundance of caution”.
But he had already visited the Presidential Palace for a courtesy call on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Monday and the Pancasila Building in the Foreign Ministry compound on Tuesday for a bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, after delivering a policy speech at the University of Indonesia in Depok in front of scores of students and faculty members, including the dean of the public health department. He also held a press event indoors and met senior investment minister Luhut Pandjaitan later that day to conclude his visit.
The press corps, which comprised embedded journalists from leading US media outlets, accompanied the secretary throughout the bulk of his itinerary in the country.
The US embassy in Malaysia said in a statement that the person with COVID-19 did not participate in any of Blinken's planned activities in Kuala Lumpur and that the person was self-isolating there in accordance with local regulations.
Prior to landing at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, the US delegation attended a Group of Seven ministerial meeting in Liverpool, England, where the COVID-19 situation had worsened due to the spread of the Omicron variant. The country recorded an all-time high of 78,610 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, days after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed the world's first death from the new variant.
