Indonesia ramps up coronavirus testing as thousands of migrant workers return home

Some 90,000 workers have already returned to Indonesia, including nearly 73,000 from neighbouring Malaysia alone

With 991 casualties, Indonesia has the third-highest death toll in Asia after China and India

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An Indonesian migrant worker gets sprayed with disinfectant upon arrival in Medan, North Sumatra. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 5:00am, 12 May 2020Updated: 5:15am, 12 May 2020

Indonesia’s foreign minister on Monday said the country faces a fresh wave of coronavirus cases with the return of migrant workers and cruise ship workers, as the country’s infections rose to 14,265.

About 90,000 Indonesian migrant workers had already returned to the country, including nearly 73,000 from neighbouring Malaysia alone, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.

Marsudi asked returning migrant workers to respect health protocols.

A medical worker takes a sample for a coronavirus test at a community health centre in Banda Aceh. Photo: AFP

She said the government has stepped up measures to anticipate the influx of migrant workers returning home by ramping up testing and setting up quarantine locations across the archipelago nation, which is home to 270 million people.

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Indonesia rose to 14,265 on Monday, after 233 new infections were recorded in the past 24 hours, said Achmad Yurianto, a spokesman for the government’s Covid-19 task force.

Eighteen additional deaths brought the total number of fatalities to 991, he said.