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Govt to reopen Bali for foreign tourists
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he government announced on Monday that Bali, which has seen its tourist sector hit hard by the pandemic, would reopen for certain international arrivals starting on Oct. 14, as the pandemic situation in the country continued to improve.
"The [Ngurah Rai] airport will open for international travelers from several countries, including South Korea, China, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand," Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, who leads the COVID-19 response in Java and Bali, said on Monday.
Foreign nationals wishing to enter Bali will be required to show proof of hotel room reservation for the mandatory eight-day quarantine at their own expense, according to Luhut.
The tourist island closed its doors to international visitors in April of last year and plans for reopening for foreign arrivals had been postponed several times due to case resurgences.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin previously said foreign tourists could return after more than 70 percent of the Bali population had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
By Monday, the vaccination rate in the resort island stood at 98 percent for the first dose and 80 percent for the second dose.
Read also: Bali tourism looking for uptick after COVID-19 restrictions eased
Indonesia, which was among the countries worst hit by COVID-19 in Asia, has seen vast improvements in its pandemic situation since the devastating second wave of infections hit the country in June and July.
On Monday, the Health Ministry recorded 922 new confirmed cases nationwide, bringing the total tally to 4.2 million. It was the first time Indonesia reported under a thousand new cases since July of last year, when total reported COVID-19 cases stood at around 47,000.
The national daily virus reproduction number (Rt) has fallen below 1 and the positivity rate, or the proportion of people tested who are positive, also dropped below 1 percent as per Monday, indicating that the outbreak is under control.
Despite the improvements, Luhut said that the government would continue the implementation of multi-tiered public activity restrictions (PPKM) for another two weeks until Oct. 18, although some restrictions have already been eased. These include allowing indoor gyms and fitness centers to reopen at 25 percent of capacity.
"The country's reopening and easing of social restrictions is being conducted in stages because we don't want the unexpected to happen," Luhut said.
Read also: " target="_blank">Australians still unable to visit Bali after drop in cases
The government has also designated Blitar, East Java, as the first region in the country to impose level 1 PPKM, the lowest of the government's four-tiered restrictions.
"Under the level 1 restrictions, public activities will almost return to what was normal before the pandemic," Luhut said.
Blitar was chosen as the location for the level 1 PPKM pilot project because of its high vaccination rate of 97 percent for the first dose and 62 percent for the second dose, and some 60 percent of its elderly population have received their first shots.
The city, according to the central government, has also met the World Health Organization's indicators for low COVID-19 incidence.
Luhut said the government would deploy a task force composed of epidemiologists and experts to monitor the COVID-19 situation in Blitar after the implementation of the level 1 PPKM. He promised to also improve pandemic surveillance, such as testing and tracing in the city.
"If the level 1 PPKM implementation in the city is successful, we will impose it in other regions as well," he said.
