JAKARTA: Indonesia may allow foreign tourists to start returning to the popular resort island of Bali and other parts of the country by October after a sharp slide in COVID-19 cases, senior minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on Friday. The Southeast Asian nation intends to move cautiously to reopen its borders following a devastating second virus wave, driven by the Delta variant. Luhut, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs, said the addition of confirmed cases of COVID-19 had dropped by 94.5% since a peak in mid-July. Indonesia's health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told Reuters earlier this week that reopening to foreigners also hinged upon 70% of the target population receiving their first COVID-19 shot. Malaysia this week reopened its Langkawi island to domestic visitors, while Thailand has opened Phuket and Samui islands to vaccinated foreign tourists and Vietnam's idyllic Phu Quoc island plans to follow suit.

Source: The Star September 17, 2021 12:45 UTC