bali officials urged by president to increase pcr testing once the borders reopen

When the border reopens, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has directed Bali officials to intensify testing and contact tracking.

On Friday, August 10, during the President's visit to Bali, Jokowi and various Bali officials met in the Governor's Office to discuss the Covid-19 handling status in Bali. On the agenda was preparations for the reopening of Bali to international visitors from some select countries on October 14th 2021.

Apart from implementing the travel bubble program, Jokowi has directed the Bali Provincial Government to strengthen testing and contact tracing in preparation for the G-20 Meeting Conference, which was scheduled to be held in Bali. Jokowi did express appreciation for the Bali province government's efforts to reduce Covid-19 transmission by swiftly delivering Covid-19 immunizations to citizens.

"We must demonstrate to them that we can control and handle the issue in Bali." And I've also heard from Bali Vice Governor Cok Ace that Bali has already surpassed its vaccination objective, with the majority of the Bali population having been vaccinated." Jokowi stated on Friday, August 10th. Data show that 80 percent of the Bali population has finished the vaccination campaign.

Despite their success in vaccination distribution, Jokowi confessed that the tracing and testing program in most areas of Bali is still regarded inadequate. "Once the border reopens to international travelers, these little formalities like tracing and testing must be expanded." Ministers will establish entry criteria such as quarantine policies." Jokowi ended his remarks.