30 Percent Of Indonesian Citizens From Overseas Positive For COVID-19 When Tested For Second PCR

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JAKARTA - Plt. Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center, Abdul Muhari, said the COVID-19 Task Force obtained data showing 30 percent of all Indonesian citizens and foreigners who came from abroad were positive for COVID-19 during the second PCR swab test.

Abdul Muhari explained that 30 percent of these international travelers were detected positive for the corona virus after being quarantined for eight days and retested.

"There are Indonesian citizens who enter, PCR at the beginning. If he is positive, treatment is carried out, if negative, he must still be quarantined for 8 days. After the seventh day before the eighth, PCR is required again. Among those who were negative on the first day, we still got from the total number of Indonesian citizens. 30 percent of foreigners who were quarantined were positive in the second PCR," said Abdul Muhari in a virtual press conference, Friday, July 16.

Thus, there is still the possibility of international travelers who came and tested positive for COVID-19 after a few days in the country.

It could be, said Abdul Muhari, that their negative test results before traveling were false negatives, or they were exposed during transit at another international airport.

"They interacted with people who were exposed and then carried away, even though they had brought a negative PCR certificate from their country of origin," said Abdul Muhari.

Therefore, Abdul asked for this condition to be understood by the public. Quarantine rules for up to two PCRs are structured in such a way as to ensure that those who arrive in Indonesia do not transmit COVID-19 to other people

"We can imagine, of the 10,000 Indonesian citizens who entered, there were 3 thousand people who were positive on the eighth day. For example, they returned to their area with a new variant, for example, you can imagine what would happen," he said.

For information, the implementation of health quarantine for travelers from abroad during the Covid-19 pandemic has been regulated in the Circular of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Number 8 of 2021 and the Addendum of SE Number 8 of 2021.

Everyone, both Indonesian citizens and foreigners, is required to follow a health quarantine for eight days at the Wisma Atlet for free, especially for PNS, students, and Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) who return home.