Jakarta – The government considers extending self-isolation requirement for international visitors and Indonesian returnees to two weeks to prevent the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, a senior official said on Monday.
Indonesia has confirmed three Omicron cases so far with the government classifying them as "imported cases".
International visitors and Indonesians returning from overseas trips are currently required to self-isolate for ten days.
"The meeting we had just now discussed a plan to extend the quarantine period to 14 days if the Omicron variant is spreading further," Chief Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said at a news conference in Jakarta.
"We increase surveillance at entry points not just at airports but also seaports. We ask people to refrain from making overseas trips as the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly across the globe," he added.
Health Ministry spokeswoman Siti Nadia Tarmizi said earlier two latest Omicron cases involved Indonesian travelers who just returned from the United Kingdom and the United States.
The first confirmed Omicron patient was a cleaning service worker at the Wisma Atlet makeshift Covid-19 isolation facility in Jakarta. The first Omicron patient allegedly contracted the virus from another person who returned from Nigeria on November 27.
The returnee was isolating at the facility with "probable Covid-19" but had not undergone a diagnostic test until he recovered, Siti said, adding that the ministry is waiting for results from a current laboratory test.
"We have been tracing 250 contacts since the first Omicron case was confirmed on December 8 and 60 of them tested positive for Covid-19," Siti said.
The analysis of the entire genome sequence is being conducted to determine if those new cases are Omicron, she said.
New Covid-19 cases are in steady decline in Indonesia where the total number of active cases currently stands at just above 4,800, in comparison to more than 550,000 active cases in late July.
Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/govt-mulls-14day-quarantine-for-international-visitor