Not 50 Percent Of COVID Vaccine Yet, Jayawijaya Regency Government Mandatory PCR Test At Wamena Airport

Willy Mambieuw. (AMONG)

PAPUA - The Jayawijaya Regency Government of Papua Province is still using the PCR test at Wamena Airport to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through passengers arriving at the airport.

Head of the Jayawijaya Health Office, Dr Willy Mambieuw, said the PCR test was not a flight requirement. The local government is still using it as an effort to stop the spread of this virus.

"Indeed, the central instruction for PCR is not to be used for travel by plane, but we are in Jayawijaya considering that the vaccination coverage has not yet reached half, so we will be screened strictly before boarding Jayawijaya," he said in Wamena as reported by Antara, Wednesday, November 10.

The Jayawijaya Regency Government prefers to use PCR instead of antigen to detect every citizen from outside who enters this district.

"Our vaccination coverage has not reached 50 percent for the whole so that we are still using the PCR method to this day," he said.

Willy said that a number of districts in Papua only use antigen tests on prospective passengers, because the vaccination achievement there is more advanced than Jayawijaya.

"Friends from other districts have vaccinations that have exceeded the target or exceed 50 percent, while Jayawijaya has not at all so that is still a filter for us here," he said.

He ensured that Jayawijaya's medical personnel continued to increase the scope of the COVID-19 vaccination so that many residents were protected from infection with the virus.