VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) highlighted the importance of stringently monitoring the entry of Indonesian migrant workers, particularly from Malaysia, and ship crew members, who had returned to their hometowns, to prevent imported cases of COVID-19.

During a teleconference meeting to discuss the movement of Indonesian migrant workers and foreigners held at the Bogor Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, on Tuesday, Jokowi emphasized the significance of taking precautionary measures to handle imported COVID-19 cases involving migrant workers.

"The inflows of migrant workers from various countries, especially from Malaysia, must be handled carefully, as it involves hundreds of thousands or millions of Indonesian migrant workers keen to return home," the president stated.

Jokowi confirmed receiving a report that in the past few days, over three thousand workers from Malaysia had returned to their hometowns on a daily basis.

Jokowi had also instructed to conduct strict monitoring of ship crew members, who had recently returned to the country.  

"The number of ship crew is forecast to reach 10 to 11 thousand. We would need to conduct their health screening," the president stated.

The head of state has highlighted the importance of imposing stricter rules on the inflows of foreigners and Indonesians returning from overseas.

Some countries, including China, South Korea, and Singapore, faced the new challenge of imported COVID-19 cases.

The Agency for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BP2MI) recorded that 32,192 migrant workers had returned from countries affected by COVID-19.

Of the 32,192 migrant workers, some 11,566 had returned home from Malaysia; 9,075 from Hong Kong; 5,487 from Taiwan; 2,799 from Singapore; 889 from Brunei Darussalam; 888 from Saudi Arabia; 756 from South Korea; 641 from Italy; 46 from Japan; and 45 from the United States. (ANTARA)