The Government Will Add 3 Quarantine Places For International Travelers

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE KEMAYORAN ATHLETIC WISMA/DOK ANTARA

JAKARTA - The Coordinator of the Expert Team and Spokesperson for the Government's COVID-19 Handling, Prof. Wiku Adisasmito, said the government added three quarantine places or locations for international travelers.

"Currently, it is planned that there will be three additional centralized quarantine facilities in DKI Jakarta", said Wiku, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, December 21

Wiku said the three locations that will be converted into centralized quarantine facilities are the Milling Flat on Gebang Island, East Jakarta, the Daan Mogot Flat in West Jakarta, and the Education Quality Assurance Institute (LPMP) in South Jakarta.

The addition was made as anticipation if the government implemented an additional time to carry out quarantine, which was originally scheduled for 10 days to 14 days due to the new variant of Omicron which has been detected in 92 countries in various parts of the world.

The additional plan was also considered since seeing the increasing number of arrivals of travelers from abroad in the last two months either by land, sea or air.

As of October 2021, the number of overseas travelers is still in the range of 1,000 to 2,000 arrivals. However, in December 2021 the number reached around 4,000 arrivals.

On December 10, 2021, at the Entikong cross-country post in West Kalimantan, the surge in arrivals rose to almost 300 arrivals. Including at the Batam Center Port, which in early November 2021, the number of arrivals only ranged from 100 to 200 arrivals, now increasing to 200 to 400 arrivals in mid-December.

Seeing the number of arrivals that rose significantly, he emphasized that travelers who wish to travel abroad should provide additional funds to be used for quarantine.

However, he appealed not to travel abroad as a form of anticipation to prevent the Omicron variant from spreading in the country.

"For Indonesian citizens, including tourists, they can take advantage of the Task Force's recommended hotels, which should have been ordered before returning to Indonesia", he said.