The Health Ministry has stated that it is tightening supervision for Indonesian citizens and foreigners from abroad at airports and ports arriving from seven countries.
The move is designed to prevent the entry of new COVID-19 variants, including the Mu variant.
“We’re also monitoring the Mu variant which is currently spreading in 46 countries and we continue to coordinate with officers at the entrance of the country and formulate various policies to anticipate the possibility of the entry of variants that are said to have the potential to be vaccine-resistant,”
said spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination at the Health Ministry, Dr Siti Nadia Tarmizi.
Arrivals from these seven countries will be closely monitored:
- Saudi Arabia
- Malaysia
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates
- South Korea
- Japan
- Singapore
Nadia added that the government is also monitoring Indonesian citizens and foreigners from Colombia, Ecuador, and countries that have announced that they have detected the spread of the Mu variant.
According to data compiled by the Health Ministry, 2.24 percent of Indonesians and 0.83 percent of foreigners arriving in Indonesia are identified as positive upon arrival. These test results are in spite of test results from the country of origin returning negative.