Posted on MSN today:
Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari has announced that authorities will not in fact be forcing international travellers flying into Bali to take a mandatory blood test for the swine flu virus upon landing, saying it would be "impossible" to carry out testing at the airport.
Two days ago, the head of Bali's international airport's health office, Nyoman Murtiyasa, was quoted in the Jakarta Globe as saying that all passengers arriving from overseas would be required to take a blood test at the airport. Murtiyasa said that, initially, the blood test would be prioritised for passengers coming from endemic countries such as Australia.
"Once they get off the plane, we will ask them to take a blood test," he said, adding that the results would be ready within 30 minutes. ??
However Chandra Yoga Aditama, the Health Ministry's director general for communicable diseases, now says "I guarantee 100 percent that there are no blood tests for visitors in the airport, and there is no policy at the moment stating that all international visitors will be required to take that test,", adding that the airport health office is not equipped to carry out blood tests for H1N1. "That would need to be performed in larger laboratories and would require a lot of money."
Phew...