Gov’t Urges People Not to Travel Abroad

By Office of Assistant to Deputy Cabinet Secretary for State Documents & Translation     Date 18 April 2022
Category: News
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President Jokowi leads a limited meeting on public activity restrictions (PPKM) evaluation at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Monday (04/18). (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Agung)

The Government has urged all people not to travel abroad during Eid al-Fitr (the Islamic festival of breaking the fast) holiday as the pandemic situation abroad is different from that in Indonesia and international travelers may contract coronavirus while traveling abroad.

“As there is a long holiday, we urge the people not to travel abroad because as we are aware, the situation in other countries is not the same as that in Indonesia, so there is a possibility of [virus] transmission abroad,” Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said in his press statement after attending a limited meeting on public activity restrictions (PPKM) evaluation led by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Monday (04/18) at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta.

Airlangga added that the pandemic is not over yet, so people must remain vigilant, especially as the number of COVID-19 cases in several countries is rising, including in China.

“We must remain vigilant and we see that there is a spike in cases in several countries, including in Shanghai, China. We certainly do not want our international travelers to bring the virus back home,” he said.

Echoing a similar sentiment, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated that several neighboring countries are seeing a spike in cases, including the Republic of Korea that has hundreds of thousand daily cases. Hence, Budi reminded the people to remain disciplined in observing health protocols, including wearing a mask.

“The President instructed us to remain careful and vigilant, not to be arrogant and conceited. Our mobility can be more normal, but we must remain careful and vigilant. The most important thing is to wear a mask. [Wearing a] mask has become our lifestyle, I noticed. Women who have hijabs, if their hijab is brown, their mask is brown. If their hijab is yellow, their mask is yellow. So, I suppose it is not a strange thing anymore,” he said.

Budi also underscored the importance of cautiousness in facing this pandemic to prevent a spike in COVID-19 cases.

“We will continue to monitor. Do remain disciplined to wear a mask. Do not be in a rush to follow other countries that are far too aggressive but then [the number of cases] rise again. It will be unfortunate. We have made improvements and it will boost economic recovery,” he remarked. (TGH/FID/JW/UN) (DH/MMB)

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