TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The New Zealand Embassy in Jakarta on Wednesday, July 28, confirmed that its government has not yet instructed its citizens to return home from Indonesia.

Currently, all New Zealanders in Jakarta are constantly being advised to register for safe travel so that the government can track and provide important information to its citizens. They are also advised to regularly check the safetravel.govt.nz website for the latest information.

As stated on the website, the New Zealand government advises its citizens not to visit other countries first. This is due to the disruption of transportation and transit options to return to New Zealand during the pandemic. Booked flights can even be cancelled.

Previously, Indonesian President Joko Widodo or Jokowi officially extended the implementation of PPKM level 4 until August 2. The curbs to suppress Covid-19 cases or PPKM Level 4, previously known as Emergency PPKM, was first enforced on July 3.

Looking at the daily data reported by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) on the day after the implementation of Emergency PPKM, the number of Covid-19 cases in Indonesia increased by 27,233 in total to 2,284,048.

Since then, the daily positive case has shown a rising trend. The peak of the surge was on July 8, when the number of Covid-19 cases increased by 38,391 to 2,417,788. This rapid increasing trend has caused many foreigners to leave Indonesia.

Read: New Zealand-Australia Travel Bubble Suspension Upsets Tourism Businesses

Suci Sekarwati | Maudey K. Setyakusuma (Intern)