The island of Bali reopened this Thursday to foreign tourists from 19 countries, including Portugal, for the first time in more than a year due to the new coronavirus pandemic, but with a series of restrictions, local authorities indicated.

However, no international flights to the island of Bali, Indonesia, were scheduled on this first day of the reopening. Tourist travel is expected to increase gradually in November.

Bali airport will receive visitors from 19 countries that meet World Health Organization (WHO) criteria such as getting SARS-CoV-2 infections under control, said Luhut Binsar Government Pandjaitan, the Indonesian minister who leads the response to the covid-19 in Java and Bali, in a statement published Wednesday night.

Pandjaitan said all passengers on international flights must provide proof of complete vaccination against the new coronavirus or negative test for SARS-CoV-2 upon arrival in Bali and undergo a five-day quarantine at hotels designated by the authorities and on behalf of the visitors.

Visitors also need to follow strict rules at hotels, restaurants and beaches.

Tourists from 19 countries can now visit the islands of Bali and Riau, namely Portugal, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Liechtenstein, Italy, France , Spain, Sweden, Poland, Hungary and Norway.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the decision to reopen was due to the high rate of vaccination in Bali [80% da população da ilha].

The number of cases of the new coronavirus in Indonesia has also declined considerably, recording around 1,000 cases per day last week, after peaking at around 56,000 per day in July.

Overall, 59.4 million of the 270 million Indonesians are fully vaccinated and another 43.2 million have already received a first dose of the vaccine. Indonesia has confirmed more than 4.2 million cases of the new coronavirus and 142,811 deaths from covid-19.