Indonesia is bracing for a third wave of COVID-19 infections as the Omicron variant drives a surge in new cases, health authorities and experts say.
Indonesia reported 9905 new infections and seven deaths on Friday in the latest 24-hour period, which was the highest daily caseload since August last year when the country was struggling to contain a Delta-driven wave.
Indonesia had recovered from last year’s spike in cases and deaths that was among the worst in the region, and daily infections had fallen to about 200 by December. But cases are rising again just weeks after the country reported its first local Omicron case.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the next few months will be critical because Omicron is spreading “rapidly and massively.”
“Its upsurge will be extremely fast … We will see a sharp rise in the near future,” he told a news conference Friday, adding that the current wave would likely peak at the end of February or in early March.
Meanwhile, Jetstar’s first flights back to Bali are still scheduled to leave Australia in early March with flights starting from $275 to $404 one-way from Sydney.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) is also planning to resume daily commercial flights from Singapore to the Indonesian resort island of Bali on February 16.
“The plan to resume daily flight to Bali is part of SIA’s long-term commitment to boosting the Indonesian tourism industry. SIA’s passenger network currently covers 64 destinations in 34 countries and we will do the best to promote Indonesia,” Singapore Airlines General Manager for Indonesia Alvin Seah said in a written statement released on Sunday.
“Our services to Denpasar and Jakarta will continue to give flexibility to our customers wishing to travel from and to Indonesia,” he said.
Bali’s international tourism relaunch has been anti-climactic since the program launched in October 2021. In fact, an official said that not one commercial international flight landed at Ngurah Rai Airport in the three months since Bali reopened to international tourists.
Prior to the reopening, the island only saw 45 international tourists arriving in the first 10 months of 2021.
Bali welcomed 6 million tourists in 2019. The island, which is almost entirely reliant on the tourism industry, came to a standstill when the pandemic hit.
