Nearly one thousand Chinese nationals have so far applied for an emergency stay permit across immigration offices in Bali amid the coronavirus outbreak that is fueling fears of a global pandemic.
Sutrisno, who heads the regional office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, said earlier today that immigration offices across Bali, notably in Ngurah Rai International Airport, Denpasar and Singaraja, have received applications from 966 Chinese nationals as of Monday evening.
In addition, Sutrisno said that Ngurah Rai has so far rejected 107 foreigners from entering the country.
“Chinese nationals who have extended their stay permit can still apply for extension, as long as China remains unconducive for their return, so we will give 30-day permits for those who apply,” Sutrisno said, as quoted by state news agency Antara.
“The whole country is monitoring this, so as long as conditions there [in China] have yet to recover, for the sake of humanity we will give them an opportunity to extend their stay,” he added.
The novel coronavirus, officially named COVID-19, has killed more than 2,600 people in China, most of whom were in the epicenter of the outbreak in Hubei Province. The epidemic has infected more than 77,000 people across the globe, with the number of infections surging in Iran, Italy and South Korea over the weekend.
Though cases have been confirmed in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia, Indonesia has yet to confirm a single case of the coronavirus in the country for the time being.
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