TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Monday has instructed air travel PCR testing costs to be reduced to Rp300,000 after the regulation was initially met with public outcry. This latest change was announced by Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan in a virtual press conference on Monday.

“The President’s order is to reduce PCR testing costs down to Rp300,000 and will be eligible for 3-days in air travel,” said Minister Pandjaitan, who is also the coordinator for the Java-Bali public activity restriction (PPKM), Antaranews reported.

Luhut explained that the requirement subjecting air travelers to Covid-19 PCR testing is mainly meant to balance the relaxed public activity restriction (PPKM), especially in the tourism sector.

He said Indonesia needs to strengthen its testing, treatment, and tracing capabilities in order to preserve the low number of confirmed cases, especially ahead of the Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays that annually sees significant public mobility.

Luhut Pandjaitan said Indonesia must learn from what other countries have endured in terms of preventing another Covid-19 wave. “The PCR testing requirement will also be gradually introduced to other means of transportation ahead of the two national holidays,” he added.

He reflected on last year’s holidays that saw a rise in Covid-19 cases despite mandating air travelers to a PCR testing requirement, and that was also without the arrival of the Delta Variant. The latest spike in public mobility was also the reason why the government mandated the test for air travel.

Read: PCR Tests to Be Mandatory for Other Transportation Modes: Luhut

ANTARA