To Reduce The Risk Of COVID-19 Transmission, The House of Representatives Suggests 127 Indian Citizens To Be Quarantined On The Island

Indian citizen quarantine illustration (Photo by chiplanay from Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena proposed to the government to isolate or quarantine 127 Indian citizens who entered Indonesia, on a certain island. This is a precautionary measure, considering that India itself is experiencing a surge in cases of COVID-19 mutations.

"We encourage the handling of 127 Indian citizens to be carried out using the same pattern as at the beginning of COVID-19. They were isolated on certain islands”, said Melki, Friday, April 23.

Melki assessed that isolation on an island is better than being isolated in a hotel or guest house. This is because islands, which are open spaces, are considered safer than those in closed spaces.

"The risk of transmission is great when in hotels or guesthouses", he said.

The Golkar Party politician again reminded how the government strictly handled the arrival of people from abroad in the early days of COVID-19 into Indonesia. At that time, said Melki, the government isolated 188 Indonesian crew members of the World Dream Cruise Ship on Sebaru Island, Kepulauan Seribu, in February 2020.

"For example, in the nearest Kepulauan Seribu, which was like yesterday with Indonesian citizens on a cruise ship, then they are isolated in one particular island", said the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) legislator.

For this reason, Melki asked related stakeholders such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate General of Immigration, and the Ministry of Health's Port Health Office (KKP) to pay serious attention to handling it.

"The cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Directorate General of Immigration, and the Ministry of Health's KKP are important to anticipate the impact of the presence of 127 Indian citizens who entered Indonesia", he said.

Indian citizen quarantine escorted by the Indonesian National Police and Army

Previously, the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) confirmed that all foreigners from India who entered Indonesia had not yet roamed in public places. The 127 Indian foreigners are still quarantined in Jakarta.

"They are quarantined in Jakarta, in a quarantine place for foreigners", said a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Dr. Nadia Wiweko, Friday, April 23.

Nadia said that all Indian foreigners would still carry out quarantine for 14 days. She confirmed they had not left the quarantine location.

Meanwhile, Central Jakarta Metro Police Chief Commissioner Hengki Haryadi, currently the Indian foreigners have undergone an independent isolation process in order to anticipate the spread of the coronavirus.

"We moved it to the Hotel Holiday In West Jakarta, escorted by the National Army and National Police (TNI-Polri)", said Hengki.

[/ read_more]