(Bloomberg) -- Indonesia will no longer require international passengers in Bali to isolate upon arrival under a trial program that starts in March, with the intention to lift all quarantine requirements by April.

Arriving passengers will still have to take a PCR test and stay inside their pre-booked accommodation while waiting for the result, Coordinating Minister for Investment and Maritime Affairs Luhut Panjaitan, who is in charge of the pandemic response in Java and Bali, said in an online briefing Sunday. The trial program starts on March 14, but it can be brought forward if the virus numbers improve next week, he said. The goal is to lift all the requirements by April, at the latest. 

Indonesia Eyes Lifting All Quarantine Requirements in April 

Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is gradually easing restrictions as it prepares to live with the virus and maintain its economic recovery momentum, even as coronavirus infections continue to spread nationwide. The government is accelerating its vaccination campaign by shortening the gap between the second dose and a booster dose to three months from six. 

Daily infections have eased to 46,643 on Saturday, as it added 258 new fatalities. That is much lower compared with over 2,000 deaths recorded in a day in July last year at the peak of the delta outbreak, keeping the national Covid hospitalization rate at around 30%, Panjaitan has said. 

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said at the same briefing that the government will conduct another seroprevalence survey to measure the level of coronavirus antibodies among the population, either due to inoculation or exposure to the virus. The government expects to have the outcome in April, before the start of the Eid holidays, said Sadikin. 

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