Already Entered Corona From India, Close The Door Of Indonesia Then
JAKARTA - As many as 129 foreign nationals departed from India with negative COVID-19 test results before flying to Indonesia. When they arrived in Indonesia, they returned to the PCR swab test again. As a result, 12 people were positive for COVID-19.
Hundreds of these people traveled to Indonesia using the Air Asia QZ-988 charter plane which landed at Soekarno Hatta Airport on Wednesday, April 21. Currently, they are undergoing quarantine at the hotel for 5x24 hours. Then, a PCR swab will be performed again.
In fact, currently, in general, foreign citizens (WNA) are prohibited from entering Indonesia. This is stated in the Covid-19 Kasatgas Circular Letter Number 6 of 2021.
However, they do hold a Limited Stay Permit Card (KITAS) to settle in Indonesia. KITAS is one of the requirements for foreigners to enter Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic, amidst the ban.
"Indeed they all get travel documents in the form of visas which are exempted and may enter according to Permenkumham 26/2020," said Director General of Immigration, Ministry of Law and Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia, Jhoni Ginting in a virtual press conference, Friday, April 23.
However, there is one problem with the entry of Indian foreigners to Indonesia. Over the past two months, COVID-19 cases in India have seen a very sharp spike. The graph shows, initially India has managed to keep its positive cases from continuing to decline and remain at a low stable rate.
However, from mid-February until today, the number of positive cases in India has jumped sharply. The cases in India from previously only around 9,000 new cases to more than 300,000 new cases per day. This means that the increase is more than 30 times.
In total, there have been around 15 million cases of coronavirus in India to date. Some experts say the sharp spike in COVID-19 cases in India is due to the transmission of a new variant of COVID-19 which is more rapidly transmitted.
When the case arrived in Indonesia, the government finally officially closed access to foreigners who had been in India.
The Chairperson of the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (KCP-PEN) as well as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy said this was done to prevent a spike in COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, as a result of the surge in corona virus cases currently occurring in India.
"The government has decided to stop granting visas to foreigners who have lived and or visited Indian territory within 14 days," said Airlangga.
Airlangga said the provisions would be followed by a circular from the Director General of Immigration at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights and related institutions. Policy applies from Sunday, April 25th. This regulation is temporary and will continue to be reviewed.
Meanwhile, Indonesian citizens who are returning to their country and have stayed or visited India within 14 days are still allowed to enter Indonesia. However, the protocol was tightened.
"The points of arrival that were opened were the airports of Soetta, Juanda, Kualanamu, Sam Ratulangi airports and then the seaports of Batam, Tanjungpinang and Dumai. While the land boundaries were Entikong, Nunukan, Malino, this was related to PMI's return from Malaysia," said Airlangga.