Indonesia says finds two cases of Indian COVID-19 variant in Jakarta

An elementary school student wearing a face mask has her temperature checked before attending a classroom session, as schools reopen amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta, March 24, 2021. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

JAKARTA — Indonesia has recorded two cases of a highly infectious COVID-19 variant first identified in India in the capital Jakarta, the country’s health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Monday.

“There were two new mutations that entered. One from India, with two incidents in Jakarta and one from South Africa in Bali,” Budi told a virtual conference. Another official confirmed the two cases were the B.1.617 variant, first detected in India.

Indonesia last week stopped issuing visas for foreigners who had been in India in the previous 14 days.