Omicron Variant Case Increasing, Moeldoko Affirms Tightening Travel To Abroad

JAKARTA - Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko said conditions for travel abroad for tourist purposes needed to be tightened in an effort to reduce the rate of cases of the Omicron variant from Foreign Travel Actors (PPLN).

This was conveyed by Moeldoko after holding a coordination meeting with the Directorate General of Immigration, Ministry of Law and Human Rights, at the Bina Graha Building, Jakarta, Wednesday.

“It is reported that there are still a large number of people going abroad for tourism purposes. The results of the deepening of KSP with the Directorate General of Immigration, conditions for overseas travel need to be tightened," said Moeldoko in a KSP press release received in Jakarta, Wednesday.

KSP said, based on data from the Ministry of Health as of January 15, 2022, of the 748 cases of Omicron detected in Indonesia, 75 percent of Omicron came from PPLN.

The majority came from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates. On this basis, the government appeals to the public to refrain from traveling abroad unless it is essential.

According to Moeldoko, one of the challenges in implementing restrictions is identifying the destination of people going abroad.

"Practice in the field shows that not a few go abroad claiming to work, but actually for tourism and vice versa," he said.

The plan to tighten travel requirements abroad, he said, would be excluded for Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI), students, and parties with urgent interests, such as health or humanitarian reasons.

"Later, the Directorate General of Immigration will coordinate with KPCPEN, the Task Force and the Ministry of Health to follow up on this plan," explained Moeldoko. For those of you who are already planning to travel abroad, you should pay attention to the new rules from the government which aim to minimize the distribution of the Omicron variant in the country.