The Government Tightens Supervision After One Indonesian Citizen In Singapore Is Affected By Corona

Picking up hundreds of Indonesian citizens from China (Photo: Twitter @KemenkesRI)

JAKARTA - An Indonesian citizen has contracted the corona virus in Singapore. Due to this incident, the government has tightened all entrances and exits of Indonesia to prevent the spread of the virus.

Through a teleconference, the Director General for Controlling and Prevention of Communicable Diseases (P2P) of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Anung Sugihartono told of the government's steps to tighten access in and out of Indonesia.

"The Indonesian government has asked for an inventory as well as tightening the entrances from various countries, including Singapore," said Anung, Wednesday, February 5.

He added that the mobility of people entering and leaving Indonesia is quite high. Data as of Wednesday, February 5, recorded 17,000 people passing Indonesia-Singapore. This is a consideration for the government to tighten the entry and exit doors of Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the Director of Prevention and Control of Direct Communicable Diseases of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, Wiendra Waworuntu, added that tightening access to Indonesia has also been carried out in all ports by installing body temperature measuring devices.

"The checking also uses a thermal scanner. Just like at the airport, at the port it is also installed because there are also risks," said Wiendra.

Director General for Controlling and Prevention of Infectious Diseases (P2P) of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Anung Sugihartono during a teleconference with a number of Ministry of Health officials (Rizky Adytia Pramana / VOI)

The tightening of access is also imposed on the crew (ABK). They cannot go to the port even if it is only to unload the consignments. They are required to stay on board and these policies must be followed.

"So we have immigration quarantine and others, but the health person said they could not go down, it had to be obeyed because it was an internal rule," said Wiendra.

An Indonesian citizen who works as a domestic worker contracted the corona virus even though he had never traveled to China. The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) Singapore confirmed that this 44-year-old woman was exposed to the virus because she worked at the home of a Singaporean national.

"The Indonesian citizen does not have a history of traveling to China (People's Republic of China or China) but is a domestic worker from a Singaporean citizen who has also previously been confirmed positive for coronavirus," said the Indonesian Embassy in a written statement as quoted by VOI on Tuesday, February 4 evening.

The Indonesian citizen who is the 21st victim of the corona virus in Singapore is currently receiving intensive care by the medical team at the Singapore General Hospital.

Although the Singapore Ministry of Health has verbally informed the Indonesian Embassy, the identity of the Indonesian citizen cannot be announced because of the Personal Data Protection Act.