A passenger undergoes a rapid antigen test for the Covid-19 coronavirus prior to boarding a flight at Juanda international airport in Sidoarjo on December 22, 2020. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto / AFP)
JAKARTA—International visitors will be barred from entering Indonesia for a two-week period in a bid to stem the spread of a new potentially more contagious variant of the coronavirus, its foreign minister Retno Marsudi said on Monday.
The new regulation, effective Jan. 1, comes days after Indonesia banned travelers from the Britain and tightened rules for those arriving from Europe and Australia to limit the spread of the new variant.
Earlier this year Indonesia banned all tourists but some exemptions have been made for business travelers. The new regulation applies to all foreign visitors with the exception of high-level government officials, she said.