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Indonesia weighs tougher curbs in response to Omicron
Further restrictions will be introduced if case figures pass the government’s threshold of 2,700 cases per day – equivalent to 10 cases per million people – as well as if hospitalizations and fatality rates increase.
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People dressed as Santa Claus and a Elf welcome visitors at the Jakarta aquarium ahead of Christmas festivities in Jakarta on December 20, 2021. (AFP/Adek Berry)
T
he government has said that certain conditions must be met before restrictions can be tightened in response to the highly contagious Omicron COVID-19 variant as it added more countries to the travel ban list.
The move came as other countries reimposed or mulled reinstating stricter curbs in response to Omicron, which the World Health Organization has said poses a “very high” global risk as early research suggests its mutation could lead to higher transmissibility and more COVID-19 cases.
Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, who leads the government’s COVID-19 response in Java and Bali, said on Monday that the government continued to monitor the latest developments in regard to the new variant and added that it had prepared “contingency measures” if certain conditions are met.
“The government has prepared contingency measures when certain thresholds are passed,” said Luhut in a press briefing, without providing further details. “We will start to [gradually] tighten curbs if case numbers pass 500 cases per day or 1,000 cases per day.”
Luhut said further restrictions would be introduced if case figures passed the government’s threshold of 2,700 cases per day – equivalent to 10 cases per million people – as well as if hospitalizations and fatality rates went up.
The government has further tightened its border restrictions as it added Norway, the United Kingdom and Denmark to its travel ban list, considering the spread of Omicron cases in those countries, while Hong Kong has been removed from the list. Luhut said the government would continue to monitor the latest developments before updating the list.
Luhut also called on the public to refrain from traveling to other countries in light of the Omicron variant, adding that the government was mulling whether to increase its mandatory quarantine period from 10 days to 14 days if the new variant spread widely.
