Indonesia Douses Airlines Passengers From Wuhan With Mist Spray As They Disembark

Being sprayed with a mist of an unknown substance while exiting an airliner is not the greeting one would expect. But that has happened in Batam, Indonesia, as attempts to contain the 2019-nCoV coronavirus of Chinese origin intensify.

Photos posted to Twitter on Saturday show passengers disembarking a Batik Air Indonesia flight where people clad in yellow hazmat suits and backpack like containers spray them down with a clear mist. The word “Alkohol” can be seen on the containers so one might assume that the substance being sprayed is an alcohol-based antiseptic. The exact formula or brand of antiseptic has not been reported.

The Jakarta Post reported that the spokesperson for Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that the passengers had become trapped in Wuhan and other cities in the Hubei province because of the travel shutdown imposed by the Chinese government. The president’s spokesperson said of the passengers, "All have been declared healthy according to World Health Organization standards."

Wuhan, located about 515 miles (830 km) west of Shanghai, is “ground-zero” for the coronavirus where people began to fall ill in late December. It is now a global health crisis with many countries confirming cases. The U.S. has eight cases, the most recent a student at the University of Massachusetts in Boston who was returning from Wuhan.

According to CNN, over 17,300 cases are confirmed globally with 361 deaths reported in China and 1 death in the Philippines of a Chinese man who had been in Wuhan. The 361 Chinese fatalities have surpassed the 349 caused by the SARS virus in 2002-03 that killed nearly 800 people in total.

The ordeal is not over for the passengers on the flight. After landing and being sprayed at about 9:00 a.m. Saturday they were taken to Natuna Island, located about 350 miles (565 km) northeast of Batam in the South China Sea. A military base is located on the island where the passengers will remain in isolation for two weeks. Ironically, the island chain has been the focus of recent disputes between Indonesia and China.

Seven other passengers originally scheduled to be on the plane remained in China. Three of them did not meet the health requirements for the flight and four others remained for other reasons not related to the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, as the virus continues to appear in more locations, the U.S. and other countries are evacuating their citizens. CNN reports of a flight with 56 Italian nationals from Wuhan. It landed at Pratica di Mare military airport, outside of Rome, on Monday morning and the passengers are expected to undergo medical examinations before being transported to a military compound on the outskirts of Italy's capital. The people are scheduled to remain in isolation at the facility for 14 days. There was no mention of any alcohol spray as the passengers left the plane.