Taiwan extends ban on Indonesian workers citing coronavirus surge

TAIPEI, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Taiwan's government on Wednesday
extended a ban on Indonesian workers coming to the island for an
indefinite period citing a surge in the number of infected
people arriving and lack of cooperation from Indonesia's
government in verifying documents.
Taiwan is home to more than 250,000 migrant workers from
Indonesia, which has the highest tally of virus infections and
deaths in southeast Asia. They mostly work as domestic helpers.
Taiwan last month announced a two-week suspension for the
entry of Indonesian workers, which the government will now
extend, the Central Epidemic Command Centre said.
It did not give a date for when it will re-open entry for
the workers, only that the government will make the decision
depending on the pandemic situation in Indonesia.
Since the start of October, Taiwan has recorded 132 positive
cases in arriving Indonesian workers, of whom 76 carried
negative test results with them when they landed, the centre
added.
Taiwan Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told reporters that
represented an unacceptable risk to the island, and that
Indonesia's government was being uncooperative.
"To date the Indonesian authorities have been unwilling to
cooperate in verifying the documentation," Chen said, referring
to the pre-arrival coronavirus tests which are now required for
almost everyone arriving in Taiwan.
Some of the Indonesians who have tested positive in Taiwan
did so at the end of their mandatory 14-day quarantines, and not
all have had symptoms.
Benny Rhamdani, the head of the Agency for the Protection of
Indonesian Migrant Workers, told Reuters they had had two
meetings with their Taiwanese counterparts this month and
suggested the problem may lay with Taiwan.
"It could be, it is our suspicion, that those deemed as
positive got infected when the Taiwanese government gathered
them, quarantined them," he said.
Indonesia may simply decide going forward to send its
workers to other countries, Rhamdani added.
Taiwan itself has kept the pandemic well under control
thanks to early and effective prevention, with 130 cases
currently in hospital - all of which are imported cases.