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Jakarta Post

Govt tightens mandatory quarantine for travelers

RI still allows entry to countries that have found Omicron cases

Nina A. Loasana (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, December 3, 2021

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Govt tightens mandatory quarantine for travelers

I

ndonesia has increased the mandatory quarantine period for all international arrivals from seven days to 10 days, effective starting Friday, as the Omicron variant continues to spread across the globe.

The government earlier this week banned foreigners that have been in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Eswatini, Malawi, Angola, Zambia and Hong Kong within two weeks before departing to Indonesia. The exceptions are Indonesians returning from these countries, who are subjected to a 14 day-quarantine.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who is leading the government’s COVID-19 response in Java and Bali, said the longer quarantine period was ordered by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

"This policy will be evaluated every now and then as we understand and continue to find out more information about this new variant," Luhut said on Wednesday.

"We also urge the public not to travel abroad at the moment to keep the country's pandemic situation under control."

The government will also ban government officials from traveling overseas, unless they are assigned to important diplomatic missions.

Read also: Govt ramps up COVID-19 surveillance as Omicron threat looms

Not much is known about Omicron at the moment. However, preliminary evidence suggests that it may be more transmissible than Delta, which is the most infectious COVID-19 variant to date.

Omicron carries up to 50 mutations — more than any other variant — and scientists fear that these mutations might make it more resistant to vaccines and may increase the risk of reinfection.

Despite its alarming transmissibility, however, interim data suggest that Omicron symptoms may be less severe than Delta's, according to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

The uncertainty around the virulence of Omicron and its ability to evade vaccine protection has put the globe on alert, with more than 50 countries introducing new travel measures in the past few days due to the variant. This prompted the WHO to warn against blanket travel bans over Omicron.

Indonesia, meanwhile, still allows entry to more than a dozen countries that have found Omicron cases in their respective regions.

The new variant has been detected in at least 24 countries so far, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, Italy, the United States, Belgium and Saudi Arabia. No deaths related to this variant have been reported so far.

 

Stricter restrictions at home

Indonesia has not yet found any cases of the Omicron variant but the government has been stepping up measures to minimize the potential impact should it reach the country.

Budi earlier said that health authorities were working on enhancing COVID-19 surveillance — including tracing, testing and whole-genome sequencing — to effectively detect and contain the spread of Omicron at an early stage. They will also work with village-level non-commissioned military officers (Babinsa) and officers of the police's security and public order unit (Bhabinkamtibmas) to strengthen contact tracing and find new cases as soon as possible.

The government has also introduced stricter COVID-19 restrictions across the country during the year-end holidays to curb public mobility.

Read also: Govt to impose curbs on year-end holidays

Activities synonymous with New Year’s festivities, such as fireworks, parades and events that attract large crowds are completely prohibited.

Places of worship, malls, hotels, restaurants and supermarkets are allowed to operate at half capacity during this period, while public parks and facilities, as well as other places that attract large crowds must close.

The Transportation Ministry will impose an odd-even license plate policy on several major toll roads on Java, the most populous island, to discourage people from traveling during the holiday season.

Passenger capacity on certain public transportation modes will be limited to only 70 percent.

 

More needs to be done

Experts have praised the government decision to prolong the compulsory quarantine period, but suggested the government carry out more thorough preemptive efforts against Omicron.

"Aside from extending the quarantine period and banning state officials from traveling abroad, the government should also limit the number of Indonesians allowed to travel overseas," epidemiologist Dicky Budiman said on Thursday.

Read also: Indonesia imposes travel ban over Omicron threat. But experts say more needs to be done

Public health expert Tjandra Yoga Aditama from the University of Indonesia (UI) said the government should carry out a multi-layered risk mitigation as recommended by the World Health Organization as well. 

"It means the government should track travelers arriving from the 11 red list countries before the travel ban was in effect and check whether they have tested positive for COVID-19 or not," Tjandra said.

"The first Omicron virus variant was detected in South Africa on Nov. 9, so there is a possibility that people arriving in Indonesia from countries on the travel ban list in the past two weeks had contracted the Omicron virus variant," he said. "[Thorough tracking] is very important, especially considering our mandatory quarantine period at the time was only three days."

Tjandra also suggested the government impose a two- to three-week mandatory quarantine on travelers from all countries that have reported Omicron cases.

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