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Breathalyzer tests offer hope for domestic tourism
The government is seeking to facilitate more passenger travels by using a diagnostics tool for COVID-19 at airports and other transport hubs, which, offers cheaper, but questionable, health screening.
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GeNose, a COVID-19 detecting machine developed by Gadjah Mada University (UGM) research team, is seen in this undated photo file provided by UGM's public relations department. The machine received approval Health Ministry for distribution on Dec. 24, 2020. (Kompas.com/Yustinus Wijaya Kusuma)
T
he government is seeking to facilitate more passenger travel by using a diagnostics tool for COVID-19 at airports and other transport hubs, which, despite a lack of peer-reviewed data on its effectiveness, offers cheaper health screening that is expected to spur traffic.
GeNose, a coronavirus breathalyzer invented by Gadjah Mada University (UGM) researchers, has been in use at airports around the country since the start of this month.
As of Friday, the tests have been on offer at five major airports: I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport in South Sumatra, Husein Sastranegara International Airport in West Java, Yogyakarta International Airport and Juanda International Airport in East Java.
The reason for its swift rollout, despite some reservations from its developers, is to help jumpstart travel and tourism at a time when flight operators are struggling to draw in domestic travelers and bounce back from the pandemic.
According to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the number of domestic flight passengers nosedived due to the coronavirus outbreak, leading to an annual decline of 67.01 percent to 1.91 million passengers in February.
“The use of GeNose is expected to give the public access to a more comfortable and affordable COVID-19 screening [method] for travel on all modes of transportation,” Transportation Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati told The Jakarta Post via text message on Tuesday.
She said the government planned to gradually expand the use of the breathalyzer to other airports while it would evaluate developments at places where they were currently in use.
