DPR Calls for Tighter Airport Screening to Curb Covid-19

Translator:

Editor:

Laila Afifa

  • Font:
  • Ukuran Font: - +
  • Health Quarantine officer checks people with a thermal scanner after Indonesia confirmed its first cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Soekarno Hatta International Airport, in Tangerang near Jakarta, Indonesia, March 6, 2020. Indonesia reported its first infections on Monday, a mother and her daughter who live in the Depok area near Jakarta. REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana

    Health Quarantine officer checks people with a thermal scanner after Indonesia confirmed its first cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Soekarno Hatta International Airport, in Tangerang near Jakarta, Indonesia, March 6, 2020. Indonesia reported its first infections on Monday, a mother and her daughter who live in the Depok area near Jakarta. REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana

    TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - House of Representatives (DPR) Deputy Speaker Aziz Syamsudin asked the government to implement tighter screening on people entering Indonesia from overseas. His remark came in light of the increasing number of coronavirus infections in the country, with some patients being Indonesians who returned from overseas travels.

    "At every entrance to Indonesia, such as airports, we have thermal scanners," he said at the DPR complex in Jakarta, Thursday, March 12. And so Aziz questioned why foreigners infected with the virus that caused the COVID-19 were able to enter.

    He said that airports that need extra attention are those in foreign tourists destinations, such as Bali, Yogyakarta, Jakarta and Batam.

    According to Azis, airport screening efforts must be increased to prevent further imported cases. "Of course we must also prevent by other means, by exercising good hygiene," he said, urging for the provision of handwashing liquids in public places.

    Despite calling for better awareness of the virus and the disease, he asked the public not to panic. What matters, he said, is to clean themselves and their environment.

    Antara