After The Meeting With Jokowi, Coordinating Minister Luhut Said The Quarantine Period From Abroad Was Shortened By 7 And 10 Days

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. (Photo: screenshot of the Youtube screen of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment/Antara)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan announced that the duration of the quarantine for travelers from abroad was shortened again.

Luhut said that currently travel from countries that have high cases of COVID-19, the Omicron variant, must be quarantined for 10 days. Travel from other countries that are included in the government list related to Omicron 7-day quarantine.

This was conveyed by Luhut after a limited meeting chaired by President Joko Widodo at the State Palace.

"Earlier, it was decided that the 14-day quarantine will be 10 days and the 10-day quarantine will be 7 days," Luhut said in a Youtube video broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat, Monday, January 3.

In addition, the government also plans to add to the list of countries that have recorded high cases of Omicron. Previously, Indonesian citizens who had just returned from abroad were required to quarantine for 10 to 14 days as an effort to stop the transmission of COVID-19.

This obligation is stated in the Decree of the Head of the Task Force for Handling COVID-19 Number 1 of 2022 concerning Entry Points, Quarantine Places, and RT-PCR Obligations for Indonesian Citizens Traveling Overseas.

In a letter signed by the Head of the Task Force for Handling COVID-19 Suharyanto, it was stated that the difference in terms of the length of the quarantine period was based on the country of origin of the arrival of Indonesian citizens.

For those who have just returned from a country with the criteria for having confirmed community transmission of variant B.1.1.529 or variant Omicron; geographically adjacent to the Omicron variant community transmission country; and the number of Omicron cases is more than 10 thousand cases must undergo quarantine for 14x24 hours.

Meanwhile, for Indonesian citizens traveling who are not from countries with these criteria, they only need to quarantine for 10 days.