Quarantine to enter Indonesia has been cut to three days by the government.
While the Omicron wave is still ongoing, there are hints that quarantine may be abolished altogether soon.
The news was announced by the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.
“In the future, if the situation continues to improve, the government is planning on 1st March or maybe earlier than 1st March to reduce the mandatory period for overseas travellers to three days. This applies to both foreign nationals and Indonesian citizens who have carried out a booster, on condition that they continue to carry out PCR entry and exit tests,” he said in a virtual press conference related to PPKM on Monday 14th February 2022.
“An exit PCR will be carried out on the morning of the third day of quarantine and overseas travellers can come out when negative results are received.”
Pandjaitan added that overseas travellers who have completed three days of quarantine and received a negative PCR test will still need to do the PCR test on the fifth day after arrival. Then, they will be asked to report their health status to the nearest health service facility.
“If cases continue to improve and vaccinations continue to increase, it is possible that on or before 1st April, overseas travellers will no longer carry out centralised quarantine,” he added.
However, Pandjaitan continued, the abolition of the centralised quarantine requirement for both foreign nationals and Indonesian citizens depends on the level of spread of COVID-19 cases and the level of national vaccination.
During the current PPKM level 3 implementation, the government is still enforcing mandatory quarantine for overseas travellers, although some countries in the world have abolished quarantine obligations.