Indonesia to temporarily ban all foreign arrivals, transits

Passengers wear masks in the arrival hall of Bali's Denpasar airport. CREDIT: AMILIA ROSA. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

JAKARTA, Mar 31, 2020, The Straits Times. Indonesia will temporarily ban all visits and transits by foreign nationals to the country to curb the further spread of the coronavirus, The Straits Times reported.

“President (Joko) sees that our current policy needs to be made stricter. We have decided that all visits and transits by foreign nationals to Indonesia will temporarily be banned,” Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters after a virtual ministers’ meeting with President Joko Widodo on Tuesday (March 31).

Exceptions to the ban include those with work permits as well as diplomats, Ms Retno added, stressing that proper health protocols will still apply.

President Joko said before the ministers’ meeting that Indonesia is stepping up measures to limit mobility among its citizens within the country, but threats of coronavirus spread also come from overseas.

Mr Joko pointed out specifically that the epicentres of the pandemic have shifted to the United States and Europe.

In Indonesia, Jakarta is the epicentre of the country’s coronavirus crisis, accounting for nearly half of the 1,414 confirmed cases.

There are 122 deaths from Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, in Indonesia so far, the highest in South-east Asia.

“Practically all nations have put in place limits on the flow of travellers with varying (degree of) strictness depending on the respective situation and condition in each country,” Ms Retno said.

Their policies have also impacted Indonesians living overseas, many of whom have recently returned home or are preparing to head home.

According to Ms Retno, the two largest groups of homebound Indonesians are Indonesian migrant workers from Malaysia as well as Indonesians working as crews on cruise ships.

“The inflow traffic from these two groups has been far larger than normal,” Ms Retno said.

“In terms of size, the number of Indonesians living and working in Malaysia exceeds 1 million. And there are 11,838 Indonesian crews working for 80 cruise ships, as per data gathered so far,” Ms Retno added.

She said the government is implementing proper health protocols at airports, seaports, border check points on these returning countrymen.

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