Major change for all Aussies visiting Bali after travel warning

Australians travelling to Indonesia must complete a new health declaration form, as the country attempts to stop the spread of Mpox.

Everyone entering the region, which includes popular travel destination Bali, must now fill out an electronic self-declaration form, known as the SATUSEHAT Health Pass.

“By declaring your health condition and travel history, you contribute to safer travel in Indonesia,” the pass website states.

Director General of Air Transportation Maria Kristi Endah Murni announced the implementation pass on Wednesday, as reported by local media, which must be completed online before checking in for your flight.

It’s understood travellers will then be provided with a barcode containing health and travel history which Indonesian authorities will scan on arrival. Anyone who has Mpox symptoms may be referred to a hospital for treatment on arrival.

A guide for International Airport Operators “to take measures to prevent and handle the transmission of Mpox disease at the airport” was also announced.

It comes after scientists studying the new Mpox strain that has spread out of the Democratic Republic of Congo say the virus is changing faster than expected, and often in areas where experts lack the funding and equipment to properly track it.

That means there are numerous unknowns about the virus itself, its severity, and how it is transmitted, complicating the response, half a dozen scientists in Africa, Europe, and the United States told Reuters.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, has been a public health problem in parts of Africa since 1970 but received little global attention until it surged internationally in 2022, prompting the World Health Organisation to declare a global health emergency.

That declaration ended 10 months later.

In Australia, health authorities in New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria have discovered cases and urged people to stay alert and get vaccinated.

The vaccine is free for close contacts of an existing case, sex workers and sexually active gay or bisexual men.

A new strain of the virus, known as clade Ib, has the world’s attention again after the WHO declared a new health emergency.

The strain is a mutated version of clade I, a form of Mpox spread by contact with infected animals that has been endemic in Congo for decades. Mpox typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions that can kill.

It can spread through contact with sores on the skin, bodily fluids including droplets from coughing or sneezing, and contaminated objects such as linen and towels.

- With Reuters