VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Soekarno Hatta (Soetta) International Airport in Tangerang, Banten has tightened supervision of the arrival of international travelers in an effort to anticipate a surge in COVID-19 cases.

"The principle is the same, we supervise (the movement of arriving passengers) whatever variant that is, because the most important thing is carrying out health protocols," Head of the Port Health Office (KKP) of Soekarno Hatta Airport Naning Pranoto said here on Sunday.

Pranoto said his party is tightening surveillance following a surge in COVID-19 cases in Singapore which reached thousands of cases per day.

He revealed that the surveillance process is carried out by readying thermal scanners at the arrival gates at the airport.

If there are passengers traveling from abroad with body temperature above 37.5 degrees Celsius, they will immediately be directed to take a swab test.

"The thermal scanner is at the forefront in the early detection of passengers, whether they are exposed to COVID-19 or not," he said.

According to him, a PCR test will be carried out by local health officials for passengers who tested positive for the swab test.

"Then, (if) the PCR result is positive, the examination would proceed to find out which variant is conducted," he explained.

In addition to the installation of thermal scanners at the terminals, the Port Health Office also conducts examinations related to the symptoms of passengers.

"If there are passengers who complain of having flu and temperatures above 37 degrees Celsius, then the officers will observe further," he said.

Meanwhile, there were new 2,717 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia on October 30, 2022.

To strengthen the implementation of health protocols and to prevent a spike in COVID-19 cases, the government emphasized the importance of increasing the coverage of booster vaccination ahead of the Christmas and 2023 New Year holidays. (Antaranews)