TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ombudsman of Jakarta said that the Soekarno-Hatta Airport has great potential to become a new cluster for coronavirus spread in Indonesia; and a source for new outbreaks. They identified the potential after conducting an impromptu inspection at the airport on May 16, which showed that the airport was not well-prepared to implement physical distancing among passengers.

The inspection was done as a follow-up to reports of violation against the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) at the international airport.

"We found there is great potential for Soekarno-Hatta Airport to be a vehicle for a new outbreak of Covid-19 during May 14, 2020, and in the following days," he said.

The Ombudsman also found that travel documents from May 14 to 16 were not validated. "How could they validate travel documents, when airport authorities are not even capable of checking whether the documents are complete," Teguh said.

To prevent the emergence of a new cluster, the Ombudsman said that the Covid-19 Task Force must immediately trace passengers who were at the airport on May 14. They must also verify the legitimacy of their health status, as there are suspicions that some patients have lied.

There is also an alleged violation of the maximum number of passengers on board aircraft, disregarding and breaking physical distancing provisions.

The Ombudsman also demanded that all flights, train rides, and road transportation for Idul Fitri exodus or mudik stopped until thorough evaluations are conducted.

IMAM HAMDI