Batam, Riau Islands - The chartered Batik Air plane carrying 245 Indonesians from Wuhan city, China, has arrived at Hang Nadim Airport in Batam, Riau Islands at 8.45 a.m. on Sunday.

All the passengers would be flown to Natuna Islands where they will be quarantined.

The Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) has prepared three planes to carry the Indonesians to Natuna.

Chief of the Operations Division of the Hang Nadim Airbase Major Lek Wardoyo said on Saturday, the Indonesian Air Force readied two Boeing planes and one Hercules plane to help evacuate the Indonesians who have just returned from Wuhan.

The Hercules plane has a seating capacity of 100 to 130 people, while the Boeing planes have room for 100 people each. The planes will be staffed with medical workers, he noted.

He added that the Indonesians will be flown to Natuna aboard the three planes, shortly after arriving from Wuhan.

It takes one hour 20 minutes to fly from Batam to Natuna.

Chief of the Batam Port Health Office, I Achmad Farchanny, said it will take a maximum of one hour for the Indonesians to change flights at Hang Nadim Airport.

"We will try to do it as quickly as possible, one hour at the most," he said.

All the passengers from Wuhan will have their temperatures and health checked aboard the plane carrying them from Wuhan, he said.

If any passengers are showing symptoms of coronavirus, they will be isolated from the others.

The government has assigned Embung Fatimah Regional General Hospital to be a referral hospital to treat patients infected with coronavirus. (ANTARA)

Jakarta - Presidential Spokesman Fadjroel Rachman assured that all Indonesians evacuated from China's city of Wuhan were declared healthy based on the standard of the World Health Organization (WHO) before they were airlifted from the city.

"All the evacuated Indonesians are confirmed to be healthy in accordance with the WHO standard procedures," Rachman said in a short message shared to journalists in Jakarta on Sunday.

The government has carried out the humanitarian evacuation and transit observation based on the Presidential Instruction no. 4/2019 under the coordination of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs and the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs.

Rachman expressed his gratitude for the support of all Indonesians in the evacuation process.

"Thank you for the sincere support of all Indonesian people. This has demonstrated the people's sense of humanity to welcome 245 Indonesians home," he added.

He called on people to stay united to get through the tough times.

"Once again, let us work together, hand in hand to get through this tough time, for humanity. Welcome home," he said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said on Saturday that prior to their evacuation, the 245 Indonesians located in several areas in Hubei as well as five advance team members would undergo a series of health examinations to ensure they are healthy and did not contract the coronavirus.

She affirmed that health protocols will continue to be enforced since the situation is not an abnormal one.

"This discipline is imposed, including at the time of arrival and thereafter. The health protocol also applies strictly to the crew and aircraft following their arrival," she explained.

Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto pointed to the application of a transit observation procedure in line with the protocol of the World Health Organization (WHO).

"The transit observation protocol will observe those who are healthy rather than those who have been affected," he noted, adding that the ministry will continue to supervise the process. (ANTARA)

Jakarta - The Indonesian Ministry of Transportation's Directorate General of Sea Transportation heightened its supervision and alertness in ports in the effort to anticipate the coronavirus (nCoV) from entering the country.

Such efforts were applied following the World Health Organization's decision to declare the spread of the coronavirus as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

"It means that there has been an emergency in the public health that has caught international attention. This refers to extraordinary events that have something to do with the health of the general public, which is why we increase our surveillance measures towards ships that come from China into Indonesian ports, as well as their cargoes, in order to anticipate the coronavirus," said the Ministry's Director of Sea and Coast Guard Unit, Ahmad, in a statement received in Jakarta, Sunday.

Every ship that enters Indonesia from China will have to dock in the Quarantine Zone for rigorous inspection by the Port Health Office (KKP) officers.

Additionally, ocean-going vessels would need to submit their voyage memos of the last ten ports when reporting their arrivals to the Port Health Office. Should the vessel had stopped in China, officers would carry out rigorous inspections.

"If there are people with suspected symptoms of a novel coronavirus, there will be special medical measures applied, in accordance with the standard operating procedure released by the Port Health Office," he said.

He also explained that the Ministry's Directorate General of Sea Transportation and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries have installed thermal scanners in the arrival areas of the ports that served international routes.

"Every passenger who has just arrived, especially from countries where cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed, such as China, must pass through a body temperature scanner to have him or her checked. If it is high, the officers will carry out further examinations, "he explained.

In Batam, for instance, ports that serve international arrivals have installed thermal scanners at international entrances such as Sekupang Harbor, Harbor Bay, Tanjung Priok, Tanjung Balai Karimun, Bintan and other ports.

"If the officers identify passengers with over 38 degrees Celcius body temperature and are experiencing cough, fever, flu, and respiratory problems, and have a record of having traveled to and from China, the port officers will immediately coordinate with those from the local Port Health Office," he said.

Personnel that is on duty in the ports are also instructed to wear protective gear.

"At the very least, they have to wear masks and gloves," he added.

As a background, the response to the coronavirus outbreak was the sixth emergency declaration ever issued by WHO. It had previously issued emergency declarations for the 2005 SARS outbreak and H5N1 bird flu in the early 2000s.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) also issued circular letters to all IMO Member States, seafarers and shipping companies following the WHO Global Emergency Declaration on the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The Letter contained information and guidance on the precautions that must be taken to minimize the risks to seafarers, passengers, and others on board and to ensure that the entire global maritime community receives accurate and relevant information about the virus outbreak and measures to reduce the risk of the corona . (ANTARA)

Jakarta – Indonesian Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto said four Indonesians refused to get evacuated while three others failed the screening, conducted by the Chinese authority. As a result, the total number of Indonesian airlifted from the Chinese city of Wuhan reached 238 people.

"There are 238 evacuees, according to the data," Putranto said in Jakarta on Sunday.

The minister said that he would recheck the data as the authority had recorded 245 Indonesians in its initial evacuation plan.

"Four people refuse to be evacuated because they feel more comfortable there (in Wuhan). Although we have an offer (the evacuation)," he said.

The four Indonesians have signed written statement letters explaining their reasons for not joining the emergency evacuation.

Meanwhile, three other Indonesians failed the screening conducted by the Chinese authority prior to their evacuation.

"They do not pass the screening. Chinese authority has conducted three-phase screening," he elaborated.

Putranto admitted that the screening conducted by the Chinese authority has helped Indonesia assure that all Indonesians airlifted from the city are in good health.

"This has relieved us that all returning home has been confirmed to be healthy by the Chinese authority," he remarked.

However, the Indonesian Government would need to assure the evacuees' health condition after they arrived in the country by conducting a thorough observation based on the World Health Organization (WHO) standards.

"This check and recheck are in accordance with the WHO standards," he said.

The chartered airplane carrying Indonesians from Wuhan, the ground zero of the coronavirus outbreak, had arrived at Hang Nadim Airport in Batam, Riau Islands at 8.45 a.m. on Sunday.

All the passengers were directly flown to Natuna Islands where the Indonesian authorities would observe their health.

The Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) prepared three planes to carry them to Natuna. (ANTARA)