Beware of New Covid-19 Clusters at Tourist Attractions

Kompas

A number of tourists take pictures in front of Borobudur temple, Magelang regency, Central Java, Thursday (25/6/2020).

The reopening nature tourism must be followed by supervision and strict sanctions to ensure compliance with health protocols.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The decision to reopen nature tourism areas should be followed up by supervision and strict sanctions to ensure both visitors and operators adhere to health protocols. The strict control is needed to ensure tourist attractions will not become new clusters for Covid-1 9 transmission.

Although the opening of nature tourism is allowed only in locations marked as green and yellow zones, some consider the decision to be premature. The risk of COVID-19 transmission is still high due to the movement of people from one area to another and people gathering after about three months of large-scale social restrictions.

Read also: Reopened Borobudur Temple Relieves Boredom

The reopening of tourism activities exposes people to a high risk of transmission. In addition to implementing standard procedures in the form of temperature checks and the provision of hand washing facilities, operators need to record the addresses of visitors to facilitate tracking.

"Such an approach is implemented in Taiwan. All visitors must give their addresses so that if there is a positive case, contact history can be traced, "said Bayu Satria, an epidemiologist at the School of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Gadjah Mada University, Friday (6/26/2020).

KOMPAS/ANGGER PUTRANTO

President Joko Widodo greets residents at the Rogojampi Public Service Market, Banyuwangi, East Java, Thursday (25/6/2020). The public service market that provides 98 document management services is located in the middle of the market and has been in operation under new normal health protocol standards.

Since the government decided to allow the reopening of nature tourism on Monday, a number of nature tourist spots have begun preparations for reopening. The head of the center for plant and garden conservation at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Hendrian, said that his office was still coordinating and consulting with the local government regarding the plan to open a botanical garden.

"We have started a simulation stage with various scenarios," he said. The scenario includes the use of online ticket reservations.

The four are the Bogor Botanical Gardens, Cibodas Botanical Gardens, Purwodadi Botanical Gardens, and Bali Botanic Gardens.

There are at least four botanical gardens managed by LIPI that will be opened. The four are the Bogor Botanical Gardens, Cibodas Botanical Gardens, Purwodadi Botanical Gardens, and Bali Botanic Gardens.

The head of the Yogyakarta Tourism Office (DIY), Singgih Rahardjo, said, tourist destinations in the province were still conducting a trial operation, including the use of health protocols. Simulations had been carried out several times to test the readiness of the tourist attractions in the region to resume operation in the middle of the pandemic.

The chief of the Covid-19 task force at the Gadjah Mada University, Rustamadji, warned that the reopening of tourist destinations should be carried out with extreme caution. According to him, three people tested positive for Covid-19 in Yogyakarta on Friday. They had a travel history to Solo, Balikpapan and Papua.

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Visitors pass a wooden bridge at the Wonorejo mangrove tourism site, Surabaya, East Java, on Monday (6/22/2020). Surabaya City Government is now re-opening the conservation tourism area to the public. However, visitors are asked to comply with health protocols.

Not urgent

A member of the expert team of the Association of the Indonesian Public Health Experts, Hermawan Saputra, said the reopening of tourism was too risky. "The tourist sector does not concern the lives of many people, it is not the basic need of the people," he said.

According to him, efforts in controlling the Covid-19 transmission have not been optimal, both at the national and regional levels. The number of new cases continues to increase.

Government spokesman for the handling of Covid-19, Achmad Yurianto, said the number of the new confirmed Covid-19 cases reached 1,240 cases on June 26, 2020, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 51,427 cases. The number of deaths increased by 63, raising the death toll 2,683 people.

The chief of the national Covid-19 handling task force, Doni Monardo, said in Banyuwangi, East Java, that the government had allowed regions in green and yellow zones to reopen tourism. Natural tourism was the first sector that can be reopened, he added.

"At the moment we are in the process to adapt to new habits that begin with preconditions," Doni said.

He said, nature tourist attractions that can be reopened are national parks in locations in green and yellow zones.

SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN

The passenger capacity of the presidential plane on its way to East Java province, Thursday (25/6/2020), is reduced by half. The reduction was done as a form of compliance with health protocols to prevent COVID-19 transmission.

Furthermore, according to him, the reopening of the nature tourism must involve local governments, community leaders, cultural figures, and religious leaders. Their involvement is needed so that the opening of the tourism activities has the support of the community.

The director of the utilization of conservation forests at the Environment and Forestry Ministry (KLHK) Nandang Prihadi ensured that his office would closely monitor national parks, nature tourism parks, or wildlife parks that have been opened. The monitoring would be focused on the readiness of the operators of the parks in the implementation of health protocols.

Forest management centers will also get support from the local government in monitoring the implementation of health control. Forest rangers are also deployed at nature tourist sites to help safeguard and ensure health protocols are implemented. (MTK/NCA/GER/AIK/TAN )

KOMPAS/REGINA RUKMORINI

appeal to keep a safe distance is written along the road at the Borobudur temple tourism park complex, Magelang regency, Central Java, as seen on Thursday (25/6/2020).