VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

 Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, has asked citizens to avoid unnecessary travel outside the country.

"Try not to go abroad if it is not urgent because until now, most cases of transmission of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 (in Indonesia) have come from abroad," he said here on Wednesday.

As of the third week of January 2022, Indonesia has recorded more than one thousand cases of the Omicron variant, and most of the patients have come from abroad, he added.

The minister appealed to people to avoid traveling abroad for the next two to three weeks given the increasing number of Omicron cases in many countries.

"Today, I received a report that 44 percent of passengers of a plane arriving from abroad had contracted the Omicron variant of COVID-19. For that reason, obey the government's rules and do not travel abroad," he said.

The Omicron variant was detected in Indonesia on November 8, 2021, and cases of the virus are expected to peak in the second and third weeks of February, he noted.

To this end, people are asked to comply with the health protocols such as wearing masks, washing hands, maintaining social distance, reducing mobility, and avoiding crowds, he said.

"Omicron is a problem for us all. Its transmission does not consider one's position, rank, and so on. Therefore, let's together maintain and obey the rules to avoid transmission," the minister remarked.

The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Indonesia in March 2020. According to data provided by the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, as of January 19, 2022, at least 4,275,528 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the country, while 4,120,540 people have recovered and 144,192 people have succumbed to the virus.  (Antaranews)