Indonesia — As the tally of Covid-19 cases continues to rise in Bali, a few hundred Australians have been repatriated to their home country.
To make sure that they were not infected by the Covid-19 virus, those who were being repatriated from the province of Indonesia had to take tests and confirm that the test came back negative before boarding the plane.
On Aug 18, the Qantas Airbus A330 departed the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar and touched down in Darwin, Australia. 186 people were reported to be on board the flight, including crew members and infants.
Upon arrival in Darwin, those who were repatriated were instructed to stay at the Howard Springs quarantine facility for two weeks.
A statement released by the Australian Consulate-General revealed that the government-assisted flight was specially organized in order to allow Australians who were stranded in Bali to return to their home country if their flights had been cancelled or if there were no other transit options that were available to them.
It was the first of such flights to be organized. Anthea Griffin, the Australian Consulate-General, also mentioned that the country will be exploring and offering more options to support other Australian citizens who want to return to Australia.
Meanwhile, Indonesia is seeing a decline in the number of Covid-19 cases as residents are starting to receive their doses of vaccines against the virus. The total number of cases is recorded at 3.99 million on Monday (Aug 23). The government has announced its decision to relax Covid-19 restrictions and measures starting from Tuesday (Aug 24).
The number of infections has fallen by approximately 78 per cent since Jul 15, when the number of cases hit a record high. Consequently, the bed occupancy rate at hospitals has been reduced significantly as well and is now at 33 per cent.
You Zi Xuan is an intern at The Independent SG. /TISG