Returning From Saudi Arabia, 30 Percent Of Umrah Service Provider Officers Positive For COVID-19

Members of the Umrah congregation walk to the departure point at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang/ Antara

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian Umrah Hajj Organizing Association (Sapuhi) Syam Resfiadi said a number of members of the preliminary team from the bureau of Umrah travel service providers tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from Saudi Arabia.

"To be honest, about 30 percent of us from the advance team have been exposed," said Syam when contacted from Jakarta, reported by Antara, Monday, January 17.

He explained that there were a number of preliminary teams with different entourage members who on December 23, 2021 departed for Saudi Arabia to map conditions and prepare services for Umrah pilgrims.

Syam entered into a team of 14 people. Syam said that the results of the examination carried out before the preliminary team members returned to the country showed that no one had contracted COVID-19.

However, he continued, after the team arrived in the country, one team member was confirmed to have COVID-19 according to the results of an examination conducted at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on January 6, 2022.

A total of 13 other team members including Syam were declared not infected with COVID-19 and directed to undergo self-quarantine at the hotel for seven days after returning from Saudi Arabia.

Syam and other team members on January 11, 2022 again underwent RT-PCR examination and the results showed six of them were positive for COVID-19.

"We, the 14 of us, most of us feel the events that we have to experience, namely coughs and fever, and I myself experienced it on the second day," said Syam. Syam said that according to the information he received there were 13 members of the advance team from various the group confirmed to have COVID-19 after returning from Saudi Arabia and now undergoing quarantine at Wisma Atlet Jakarta.

"When he was in Saudi the PCR was negative, but when he got off the plane he was immediately positive, confusing us. We didn't suspect or suspect, but this is what is happening now," he said.

He reminded the congregation who had left for the Holy Land to increase discipline in carrying out health protocols to avoid the attack of the corona virus.

"Every pilgrim who wants to leave, as long as it is not closed by the Government of Indonesia and the Government of Saudi Arabia, must obey the procedures, it should not be ignored," he said.

Meanwhile, the Director of Prevention and Control of Directly Infectious Diseases of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that 569 of the total 748 cases of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 variant of the Omicron coronavirus found in Indonesia until January 15, 2022, occurred in travelers from abroad and 155 other cases are cases of local transmission.

Omicron infections, according to him, mostly occur in residents who travel to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, America, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Therefore, the Government of Indonesia is increasing the supervision of people's traffic at the entrances and tightening quarantine rules for foreign travelers to prevent transmission of Omicron.