Indonesia Appeals Not To Be Careless With The Corona Virus

JAKARTA - The spread of the corona virus outbreak has spread to a number of countries. Indonesia is not included in the list of countries with the corona virus. However, Indonesia is urged to continue to increase its vigilance against the entry of the corona virus into the country.

Indonesia is one of the lucky countries, because it is still protected from the spread of a virus that has not found a cure. This is because several neighboring countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, have had cases of the corona virus. However, the virus seems to have jumped from Indonesia and infected Australia.

In addition, as of today, Tuesday, January 28, Germany and Sri Lanka have just added to the list of countries that have found cases of the corona virus. In fact, when compared to the distance from the origin of the virus, namely Wuhan, China, to Germany, it is many times the distance from Wuhan to Indonesia.

The absence of cases of the corona virus in Indonesia deserves to be grateful, but experts warn that Indonesia should not be careless because of the safe situation. As reported by straitstimes.com, Indonesian authorities are considered to be carrying out their usual activities while other countries have implemented emergency measures to contain the virus. In China alone, at least 10 cities have been closed, including Wuhan.

Meanwhile, according to a student from Wuhan from Indonesia who returned to Jakarta, airport authorities did not take additional steps to check passengers arriving from the city where the virus first appeared.

The student, whose real name does not want to be identified, regrets that the health alert card (HAC) which he filled with personal information complete with travel history and medical records, was not collected by Soekarno-Hatta International Airport officials.

Launching The Jakarta Post, Head of the Airport Health Office, Anas Ma'ruf, said there was a possibility that airport officials would not collect all of the HACs due to the large number of passengers. However, he said his office had collected passenger manifest data from airlines.

The airport also explained that if a passenger has a fever and difficulty breathing, they will examine it carefully. "However, many of them entered the country in good health; that's why we gave them HAC as a way to communicate with health facilities in their respective areas," said Anas.

The airport said they had checked by conducting a thermal screening. In addition, the airport also plans to add officers to intensify monitoring, including screening passengers using thermo guns.

The procedure for screening foreign tourists, especially from countries where cases of the corona virus are found, must be tightened by Indonesia. The reason is, Indonesia is one of the most popular destination countries from the origin of the corona virus, Wuhan.

As noted in Business 1ntellegence Service (B1S) data, Indonesia contributed 7 percent of the total flights of people out of Wuhan between December 2018 and November 2019, namely 1.4 million flights.

Chief Executive of the National Committee for Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (Komnas FBPI), Bayu Krisnamurthi, said the government must have the right attitude in dealing with an outbreak like this corona virus.

"Refusing this will not help much. We don't need to panic and overreact, but we also shouldn't be too complacent. Stay vigilant and continue to improve our readiness," he was quoted as saying by straitstimes.com.

Meanwhile, at the Parliament Complex, Minister of Transportation Budi Karya said that until now Indonesia had not issued a travel warning because there had not been any recommendations issued by WHO regarding the corona virus.

"The benchmark is WHO's recommendation. Later, when WHO has recommended something, then we together with the Minister of Health and the Minister of Foreign Affairs will discuss other possibilities," he said.

Budi Karya explained that the appeal was limited to not approaching the Wuhan area, China. Likewise, the Chinese government has also stopped flights from Wuhan to other countries, including Indonesia.

According to Budi, the reason the Indonesian government is waiting for WHO's recommendation is because Indonesia is part of the organization. The government policy will change. One of the indicators is that recommendation.

"Yes, only one, WHO recommendation. Solid. Because I think WHO consists of people who have the capacity, are credible, and he is indeed a world institution that we follow," he explained.

Budi added that there is no prohibition against Chinese tourists from entering Indonesia. However, these tourists will not be allowed to just enter the country, there are a series of procedures that they must follow.

"If it's from China, I have assigned it to guard the entry by using thermal indicators and so on. The front liner staff wear masks. But do it as usual. We as the host must be cooperative," he said adding the Ministry of Transportation would coordinating with the Ministry of Health and also the Office of Port Health Officers (KKP) at each airport and port to monitor tourists from China.