JAKARTA - The Task Force for Handling COVID-19 ensures that procedures for the arrival of foreign nationals (WNA) from outside Indonesia will be tightened. This is done to prevent the entry of a new variant of COVID-19 that is currently being found in a number of countries.
"The Task Force is committed to preventing imported cases, including cases with variant B117, by tightening the procedure for the arrival of foreigners at the entrance," said Wiku Adisasmito, spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force in an online press conference broadcast on the YouTube account of the Presidential Secretariat, Thursday, December 31.
He said the new variant of this virus would try to be anticipated by the government with a number of policies including providing hotels for independent isolation facilities for foreigners entering the country. To make this commitment, the government has also partnered with the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) to guarantee the procurement of these facilities.
"The central government has collaborated with the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) to ensure the availability of paid self-isolation facilities for foreigners," he said.
Not only policies, the government will also anticipate this virus by collaborating with research institutions to monitor, see, and find out how this new variant of COVID-19 works.
"In anticipating this incident, in addition to policy, genomic surveillance will be carried out to see the characteristics and distribution of the genome by several universities and research institutions," he said.
Previously reported, the temporary closure of access to foreigners to Indonesia was carried out following the existence of a new variant of COVID-19, which according to various scientific data has a faster spread rate.
For foreigners who arrived in Indonesia before December 31, 2020, the rules in accordance with the provisions in the addendum to the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Circular Number 3 of 2020 will be enforced.
First, foreigners show negative results through the RT-PCR test in the applicable country of origin, a maximum of 2 times 24 hours before departure. In addition, they are also required to attach the letter to the Indonesian international health examination or e-HAC.
Second, upon arrival in Indonesia, each foreigner must re-examine the RT-PCR. If the result is negative, the foreigner must still be quarantined for 5 days from the date of arrival.
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