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Bali to trial quarantine-free international arrivals this month
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Travelers walk through the international arrivals hall at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Tuban, near Denpasar, Bali, on Feb. 16, after a Singapore Airlines flight arrived following a nearly two-year suspension due to COVID-19. (AFP/Sonny Tumbelaka)
T
he government plans to trial a quarantine-free international entry policy in Bali starting on March 14, citing the improving COVID-19 situation.
Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who heads the government’s pandemic response in Java and Bali, said on Sunday that the trial could start earlier if conditions allowed.
“The starting date can move forward if data in the coming week improves [further]. We have seen improving figures in Bali for the past weeks,” Luhut said during a press briefing.
The resort island reported a record 2,425 daily new cases on Feb. 8. The previous peak was on Aug. 15 of last year, during the Delta-fueled second wave, with a single-day case tally of 1,900.
Since Feb. 8, the island’s cases have declined. It reported 332 cases on Sunday.
The bed occupancy rate (BOR) has also been falling for the past few weeks, from a peak of 51 percent on Feb. 11 to 25 percent on Sunday.
Under the quarantine-free arrangement, Luhut said international travelers would be required to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test upon arrival and would wait for the results in their respective hotel rooms. If they were negative, they would be allowed to travel freely.
