Open All Countries' Entrances To Indonesia As Omicron Spreads, Kasatgas: For A Better Economy

DOK BNPB

JAKARTA - The head of the COVID-19 Task Force, Suharyanto, explained the reason why his party decided to open all countries' entrances to Indonesia when the transmission of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 had spread.

Suharyanto explained that the deletion of the list of 14 countries whose foreigners were banned from entering Indonesia because they had a high number of Omicron cases was carried out in order to maintain economic growth.

This he said during the evaluation meeting on COVID-19 control during the 2021 Christmas and New Year 2022 (Nataru) holidays and in anticipation of the spread of the Omicron variant at the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture's Office.

"There are no more restrictive state policies. We used to know 13 countries, then 14 countries. This is proof that we are evaluating policies. Of course so that the virus does not spread, but also economic growth in our country can get better," said Suharyanto on Monday, January 17th.

Likewise, the change in determining the quarantine period for foreign travelers (PPLN) from 14 days to 10 days is part of the results of the previous policy evaluation.

The rules contained in the Circular Letter of the Head of Task Force Number 3 of 2022 were taken according to the results of a limited meeting and through various considerations formulated together with experts.

Suharyanto explained that the evaluation of the COVID-19 response in a limited meeting chaired by President Jokowi every week often resulted in new policies.

The policy change, he said, was caused by several factors, one of which was the threat characteristics of the virus itself, which also underwent changes.

"Every week we hold a work meeting for evaluation. Then we see the development of the threat. We evaluate this Omicron continuously so that the policy changes according to the characteristics of the threat, which is also changing," said Suharyanto.

It is known, the abolition of the ban on 14 countries entering Indonesia is contained in the Circular Letter (SE) of the Covid-19 Task Force Number 2/2022 concerning the Health Protocol for Overseas Travel during the COVID-19 Pandemic Period.

There were also 14 countries that were previously banned from entering Indonesia, namely South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini, Lesotho, Norway, France, England and Denmark.