President Jokowi Gathers Ministers, Asks For Omicron Variants To Be Threatened

JAKARTA - Minister of State Secretary, Pratikno, said President Joko Widodo gave directions to ministers to always be vigilant and react quickly to anticipate the spread of the new variant of the Corona Virus, Omicron, or variant B.1.1.529.

"Always be alert, always follow the dynamics of the field, and react quickly to possible dynamics", said Minister of State Secretary Pratikno at the Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, Antara, Wednesday, December 1.

Pratikno said President Jokowi this morning had summoned several ministers, including Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Airlangga Hartarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs represented by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mahendra Siregar, and other relevant ministers to discuss specifically Omicron.

The President also asked the ministers to study the Omicron case that is hitting other countries.

“The point is that we must always be vigilant, we must stand by, according to our existing capacity, we must always be on standby. Shortly there will be further explanations from the relevant ministers", said the Minister of State Secretary.

President Jokowi also asked his staff to continue to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination to the public, and ensure the implementation of health protocols in the community. In addition, said Pratikno, the Head of State also requested that hospitals always be ready if there is an increase in COVID-19 cases.

"Therefore, if there is a case, what if there is a case, the hospital is always on standby", said the Minister of State Secretary.

Previously, the government had implemented a policy to anticipate the spread of imported cases and new variants of the Coronavirus, namely the temporary suspension of foreigners with a travel history in the last 14 days to South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Indonesian citizens who have a history of traveling to these countries in the last 14 days are still allowed to return to Indonesia with the obligation to undergo quarantine for 14 days.

Meanwhile, foreigners and Indonesian citizens from other countries not mentioned above are required to adjust the quarantine duration to 7x24 hours.