NasDem Legislators Ask The Government To Review PCR Swabs As Travel Requirements

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission V of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Syarief Abdullah Alkadrie, asked the government to review the PCR Swab regulation as a condition for long-distance travel for people who want to travel by plane or train. Bearing in mind that the laboratories for examining PCR test results in a number of districts and cities in Indonesia are not evenly distributed.

"We need to think about and feel sorry for the areas that do not yet have the PCR swab test laboratory," said Syarief, Thursday, August 5.

Moreover, he continued, the price set for the PCR Swab is quite expensive, thus adding to the burden of travel costs. PCR results, he said, also took a long time and were not effective in suppressing the spread of COVID-19. Because, according to Syarief, the community could have been exposed a few hours after taking the PCR swab test while the test result was negative and still traveling. Moreover, many fake PCR Swab letters were found. "The time span from sampling to the results is quite long, it can be 12 hours or even 36 hours. If you want six hours the price is also more expensive," he said. For this reason, the legislator from the West Kalimantan 1 electoral district suggested the government to change the conditions for traveling using an antigen swab as a condition for boarding planes and trains.

"If all regions can do an antigen swab, the cost is cheap and the results are fast. However, this antigen swab must be done at the airport or train station, with a few hours before departure," he suggested.

Syarief also considered that it would be more effective if the government at the airport or arrival station had to carry out a random PCR Swab. ," he said.