VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (left) speaks to an Indonesian woman who landed at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport from Yemen recently. (ANTARA FOTO)

A total of 95,102 Indonesians have returned from abroad as of May 13, 2020 in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Thursday.

"Most of them returned from Malaysia and were working for cruise ships," she said during an online press conference at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.

She said 74,817 Indonesians have returned from Malaysia, and 64 percent of them traveled by sea.

By May 13, 2020, a total of 15,820 Indonesian crew members of cruise ships have also returned from 21 countries, she added.

Most of them returned home via the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Banten Province and the Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali Province.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Indonesian migrant workers, particularly those employed in the informal sector in Malaysia, have lost their jobs.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has instructed the ministries to take precautionary measures for the return of 34 thousand Indonesian migrant workers, whose work contract will end in the months of May and June this year.

"Precautionary measures must be taken against this, and adequate preparations must be made. We should handle their arrivals through certain entry gates and monitor their movements to their hometowns," Jokowi stated during a videoconference on the acceleration of COVID-19 handling at the Merdeka Palace here on Monday. (ANTARA)