Deputy Minister Of Health On Mulan Jameela: International Travel Quarantine Applies Without Exception

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JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Health Dante Saksono Harbuwono emphasized that every international traveler needs to undergo a period of quarantine at facilities provided by the government without exception.

"Even now the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, who has just returned from China, has already carried out a health quarantine for ten days. So without exception," said Dante Saksono Harbuwono during the kick-off agenda for vaccination of children aged 6-11 years at State Elementary School 03 Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, December 14.

Dante made this statement in response to reporters' questions regarding the news that DPR member Mulan Jameela and her family did not undergo a ten-day quarantine after returning from abroad.

Dante said that every violator of the quarantine provisions in accordance with the Task Force Circular (SE) Number 23 of 2021 needs to be dealt with firmly. "Of course we will return them to their proper quarantine place. If it is in the form of criminal sanctions," he said.

According to Dante, the quarantine provisions for international travelers are based on the consideration of the emergence of a new variant of Omicron which is believed by many experts to be more contagious than the old variant. "That's why we extended the quarantine period to ten days," he said.

Dante emphasized that there should be no exceptions for all citizens, both foreign and Indonesian, who had just traveled from abroad. They must undergo a ten-day quarantine.

"All of them are in the quarantine that has been determined because the supervision and isolation is better not at home but in the quarantine place that has been determined," he said.

Dante added that until now Indonesia has carried out more than 10 thousand Whole Genome Squencing (WGS) with reports that no Omicron variant has been detected in the country.