The Health Ministry has clarified reports circulating on social media and other messaging applications that Indonesia is included in the category of high-risk countries, or level A1, by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The message claims that Indonesia is in the A1 category along with India, Pakistan, Brazil, the Philippines, and some countries in Africa. This means that other countries may refuse admittance to anyone from these countries.
According to the Health Ministry’s website, sehatnegeriku.kemkes.go.id, the information is confirmed to be untrue. Specifically, the WHO doesn’t have such a designation for any country.
“We have verified the information with the WHO and received information that it has never classified countries with the A1 code or other codes. The situation of each country is reported in situational reports published by the WHO every week and can be accessed by the public,” said Dr. Siti Nadia Tarmizi, spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccination at the Indonesian Health Ministry.
Nadia added that, in general, since 11th March 2020, the WHO announced a pandemic condition as a statement that the whole world was categorised as high-risk of spreading COVID-19.
As for the ban on foreign travel usually depends on each country through recommendations from the relevant state health authorities.
“Regarding the rules about travel bans for passengers from certain countries, they are usually put in place by the Port Health Office or the government at the destination country. This has been a common practice in international health regulations since 2005. The decision is the right of each country,” she explained.