Cargo Shipments To And From China Continue, Live Animal Shipment Discontinued

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The delivery of goods / cargo to and from China, both through ports and airports, will certainly continue as usual, but the delivery of live animals from the bamboo curtain country will be temporarily suspended.

This was raised at a Limited Meeting related to the Handling of the Corona Virus led by President Joko Widodo on Tuesday, February 4. Head of the Communication and Public Information Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation, Hengki Angkasawan, revealed that the reason for not stopping the delivery of goods / cargo from China was that there were no findings of the transmission of the corona virus through goods / cargo and there had been no appeal from the World Health Organization (WHO ) related to that.

"Meanwhile, regarding the termination of the delivery of live animals from China, this is done because it is known that the transmission of the corona virus is not only transmitted from human to human, but also from live animals," said Hengki in a statement received by VOI, Wednesday, February 5.

Hengki said that the detailed arrangements for stopping the delivery of live animals from China to airports or ports in Indonesia would be made by the Director General of Air Transportation and the Director General of Sea Transportation.

Meanwhile, related to the regulation of the delivery of horticultural products such as onions and fruits or other food products from China, the Ministry of Transportation will coordinate with related Ministries such as the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health for handling it.

"The Minister of Transportation has instructed the Director General of Sea and Air Transportation to cooperate with the Port Health Offices at airports and ports and coordinate its implementation with airport and port operators, as well as related stakeholders," concluded Hengki.

Meanwhile, the implementation of the policy to temporarily suspend flights to and from China has been in effect since early Wednesday at 00.00 WIB (last night) for an undetermined time limit.

#KawulaModa, starting today (5/2), the Ministry of Transportation began to delay flights from / to the territory of the People's Republic of China (PRC) / Mainland China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau, up to a later time limit. pic.twitter.com/gHVU1LCdFT

- Ministry of Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia (@ kemenhub151) February 5, 2020

This was done as an effort to anticipate the government to prevent the spread of the corona virus which has been designated by WHO as a global epidemic with a global emergency status.

The Ministry of Transportation has appealed to flight operators to inform the public about the delay plan to minimize losses from passengers. The Ministry of Transportation is conducting an inventory related to the impacts caused by the delay of the aircraft.