Indonesia will not be allowing any unvaccinated foreign visitors to enter the country as part of its efforts to prevent the highly transmissible delta variant from infecting the populace. A government task force said Monday that all visitors must show a vaccination certificate and a negative PCR test before being allowed into the country.
The task force said that those that can present the necessary certificates must still undergo eight days of quarantine - up from the five-day mandatory quarantine that was imposed before the announcement. The task force said the visitors will need to have two negative PCR tests while they are being quarantined.
The task force said government officials, diplomats and those traveling from countries with existing travel corridor arrangements will be exempt. The nation currently has travel corridor arrangements with China, South Korea, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
All unvaccinated Indonesian nationals traveling home from overseas will receive shots when they arrive. They will then be quarantined with all other foreign travelers and tested twice for the virus.
The Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment said that the measures will officially take effect Tuesday.
"We already understand that there is an increase in COVID-19 cases and new variants that continue to spread in various countries, so the government added special provisions to protect Indonesian citizens from imported cases," the agency said.
Within the nation, foreigners already in the country will be barred from moving around its territories without a valid residence permit or certain classes of visas. Local residents that have not been vaccinated will also be barred from traveling between cities and provinces.
Last week, the Red Cross said Indonesia already "teeters on the edge of a Covid-19 catastrophe." The agency said daily cases have hit more than 20,000 over the past few weeks. On Sunday, new cases hit 27,233 and deaths hit a new daily record of 555.
Health authorities have blamed the rise in new cases on the delta variant. According to the Scripps Research of the U.S., the delta variant has a cumulative prevalence rate of 22% in Indonesia - a ratio defined as "sequences containing B.1.617.2 [delta's scientific name] to all sequences collected since the identification of B.1.617.2 in that location."
