Luhut Explains The Reason For Indonesia Not Lockdown To Prevent The Omicron COVID-19 Variant

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JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan explained the government's reason for not implementing a lockdown to prevent the entry of the COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529 or Omicron.

In this case, the government has banned 11 countries of origin for travelers from entering Indonesia and extended the duration of quarantine outside the 11 countries.

Luhut views that the application of Indonesian locks from foreign countries also does not solve the problem of the pandemic. In fact, other problems arise such as the slump in economic conditions.

"The lockdown experience also did not solve the problem. The country with many lockdowns actually got a lot of problems," Luhut said in a virtual press conference, Sunday, November 28.

Based on the experience of dealing with the entry of the Delta variant which caused a spike in cases in Indonesia, Luhut believes that the implementation of PPKM and the ban on entry to a number of countries can be a solution.

"From our experience, because we agreed that we are much more sophisticated than what happened in the past, we are monitoring carefully. I think it is good. We are looking for an equilibrium, taking an approach like PPKM would be better," said Luhut.

For information, currently the government has only determined 11 countries of origin for travelers who are prohibited from entering Indonesia, namely South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Eswatini, Malawi, Angola, Zambia and Hong Kong.

For the 11 countries in question, the ban on entry to Indonesia is valid for 14 days. The no-entry policy and extension of quarantine duration outside 11 countries will take effect from November 29, 2021.

Meanwhile, the government has also extended the quarantine period for international travelers entering Indonesia, outside of the 11 prohibited countries. Previously, the quarantine period was valid for 3 days and now it is valid for 7 days.