Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport to Mandate Swab Tests for Visitors
Translator
Ricky Mohammad Nugraha
Editor
Laila Afifa
Jumat, 22 Mei 2020 08:56 WIB
A number of foreign tourists carrying luggage upon arrival at the International Arrival Terminal, I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Indonesia, January 26, 2020 in this photo taken January 26, 2020. Hoteliers in the beach playground of Bali hoped the same. China has become an ever bigger source of tourists for them -- their number regularly surpassing that of the traditional Australia hordes. Antara Foto/Fikri Yusuf
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta -Bali’s COVID-19 Task Force chairperson, Dewa Made Indra, on Thursday announced that the I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport will subject passengers heading to the airport with a compulsory swab test as of May 28.
This policy comes after the local government decided to step up its efforts to be the first province in Indonesia to recover from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“We need time to prepare our efforts,” said Indra on Thursday, May 21. “We must agree to strictly select the people that enter Bali.”
This follows an official request letter from Bali Governor Wayan Koster to the directorate-general of transportation on May 18 which effectively asks permission to tighten up security at Ngurah Rai airport.
The request was answered by the directorate-general with a letter containing the mechanism to conduct a compulsory swab test based on the PCR method for every passenger boarding flights destined for the resort island. This comes after state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura I announced its plan to use PCR-based swab tests across 15 airports nationwide.
Passengers heading off from I Gusti Ngurah rai Airport are under less-strict rules as they are only required to show airport officials a medical letter showing that they have passed COVID-19 swab tests with a seven-day validity period.
