Indonesia's airport on high alert to prevent COVID-19 entry

The Port Health Office (KKP) at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Indonesia's Tangerang said that it is trying to prevent the entry of the COVID-19 pandemic, amid increasing cases of the viral disease in Singapore.
Indonesia's airport on high alert to prevent COVID-19 entry ảnh 1Passengers at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten (Photo: Antara)
Jakarta (VNA) - The Port Health Office (KKP) at Soekarno-HattaInternational Airport in Indonesia's Tangerang said that it is trying to preventthe entry of the COVID-19 pandemic, amid increasing cases of the viral disease in Singapore.

This anticipation is a precautionary measure ahead of the year-end holidays,according to head of the KKP Naning Nugrahini.

Although the port health office has not detected any cases of the coronavirus,the KKP office has remained vigilant and prepared health facilities, suchas health clinics, for passengers showing COVID-19 symptoms as it sees highpassenger movement.
“If wefind any case, we will send them to the KKP clinic for a doctor’s examination,including an antigen test,” she said.

She added that the KKP office is coordinating with a team of doctors toanticipate COVID-19 transmission by carrying out contact tracing and healthtests for passengers.

TheCOVID-19 Control Task Force will also increase the enforcement of healthprotocols for passengers. The anticipatory efforts against COVID-19 emergenceduring the holiday season will include the installation of body thermalscanners and the deployment of KKP officers at every terminal, according to Nugrahini.

Passengers at the airport are being reminded to comply with the healthprotocols, such as wearing masks, maintaining distance, and washing hands, she said,highlighting all airlines are advised to implement the health protocols.

Accordingto Health Ministry data on December 6, the number of COVID-19 cases inIndonesia increased by 35–40, with the number of patient hospitalisationsreaching 60–131, and the number of deaths rising by 0–3.

Thecurrent cases are dominated by the Omicron XBB 1.5 subvariant, which was blamedfor the COVID-19 wave in Europe and the US. In addition, the EG2 andEG5 subvariants have also been detected in some patients.

However, the number of COVID-19 cases is still lower than during the pandemic,when it reached 50,000–400,000 per week./.
VNA

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