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ndonesian authorities said on Tuesday that Australians considering traveling to Indonesia should not worry about the danger of contracting the Zika virus despite a recently issued travel advisory by the Australian government concerning the matter.

The Health Ministry’s Director General for Disease Control Mohamad Subuh said Indonesia had not been affected by the Zika virus, citing the latest report by the WHO that excluded Indonesia from the list of countries experiencing an outbreak of the virus.

As of June 15, the WHO reported that 46 countries had experienced their first outbreak of the Zika virus since 2015, while 14 countries reported evidence of transmission of the Zika virus between 2007 and 2014. Indonesia is not on the list.

“Thus, Australian tourists do not have to worry about the report that Indonesia is under threat from the Zika virus,” Subuh told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Subuh acknowledged that there was a reported case of a man affected by the virus in Jambi last year, but said, “It was only based on a report by the Eijkman Institute.” He was referring to a Jakarta-based nonprofit, government-funded research institute conducting basic research in medical molecular biology and biotechnology.

The Tourism Ministry’s deputy for overseas promotion, I Gde Pitana, said on Tuesday that he had informed the ministry’s representatives in Australia and the Indonesian Embassy there about the “real condition in Indonesia as indicated by the WHO”, so that they can disseminate the information to several stakeholders in the neighboring country, such as major travel agents.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) recently updated a travel advisory on its official website. In the June 17 update, the DFAT advised that Australians planning to visit Indonesia should exercise a high degree of caution, including in Bali.

“Indonesia is experiencing sporadic transmission of the mosquito-borne Zika virus. We advise all travellers to protect themselves from mosquito bites. The overall level of advice has not changed,” the statement read.

In response to the Australian government’s warning, the Bali administration declared that the resort island was free from the Zika virus, saying there had been no reported cases of the disease there.

“No Zika cases have been found in Bali. So we hope that foreign tourists will not be worried about visiting Bali,” Bali administration spokesperson Dewa Gede Mahendra Putra said on Tuesday.

Although no cases of the virus have been found in Bali, the administration has taken steps to prevent the virus from infecting people in Bali.

Bali Health Agency head Ketut Suarjaya said he had reminded the Balinese to keep the environment clean to stop the mosquito that transmitted the Zika virus from breeding.

“We have reminded people to use preemptive measures by draining water from containers, covering water retainers and burying used retainers,” he said.

The head of the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies’ (ASITA) Bali branch, I Ketut Ardana, said he fully respected the Australian policy to warn its citizens about Zika.

However, he criticized the travel advisory, saying that it did not consider the fact that there had been no reported Zika cases on the island.

“The Bali administration’s response to the travel advisory has explained the facts. That is good for tourism here, as tourists can feel safe in Bali,” he said. (mos)
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