Major change for all Aussies visiting Bali after travel warning

Aussies heading to Bali have been issued a new warning before boarding their flight, and will need to complete a new document before boarding.

In a desperate bid to curb cases of Mpox from entering popular islands within Indonesia — such as Bali — Aussie travellers will be required to submit a new document for entry.

Known as the SATUSEHAT Health Pass, foreigners entering the popular holiday island of Bali will now be required to enter the health declaration form before entry.

According to local media, Director General of Air Transportation Maria Kristi Endah Murni said the pass must be completed online by visitors before checking in for their flight. It is understood the traveller will be issued with a barcode, which will be scanned upon arrival into the Indonesian airport. In Bali, it is understood Denpasar’s airport biosecurity teams have installed thermal imaging cameras at the arrivals terminal to detect passengers with elevated temperatures.

The new health safety measure, which will apply to all Australian and foreign visitors heading to Indonesia, follows a recent surge in mpox cases.

According to reports, there have been more than 80 confirmed cases of the virus across the country in the past year.

The new health card required to go to Bali.

Smartraveller issued an updated advisory on August 30 about the new health declaration.

“Before entering Indonesia, you need to complete an electronic health declaration (the SATUSEHAT Health Pass),” the government advisory read.

“You can complete the form online before you check in for your flight to Indonesia. If you have Mpox symptoms, you may be referred to a hospital for treatment on arrival.

Mpox was declared as a World Health Organisation public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005) last month.

Australia’s National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System notes 283 cases mpox reported across the country in 2024, spiking from just 26 last year.

Visitors to Bali will need to do a new health card.

Mpox is characterised by pus-filled blisters and flu-like symptoms, and can lead to death, although the majority of cases are mild.

Recently, the WHO had to quash reports that the mpox outbreak as being another Covid-19 outbreak, the a spokesperson assuring that because much is already known about the virus and the means to control it the approach will be different.

“Mpox is not the new Covid,” the WHO’s European director Hans Kluge said last month.

“We know how to control mpox. And, in the European region, the steps needed to eliminate its transmission altogether,” he told a media briefing in Geneva.

Mpox was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the WHO in August. Picture: R.Satish BABU / AFP.

There are two subtypes of mpox: the more virulent and deadlier Clade 1, endemic in the Congo Basin in central Africa; and Clade 2, endemic in West Africa.

Clade 1b is a new offshoot of Clade 1, which is now called Clade 1a.

The Clade 1b outbreak in northeastern DRC was first detected in September last year and is spreading rapidly.

The split of Clade 1 into 1a and 1b reflects a “change in the evolution of the virus.”

Clade 1a traditionally has outbreaks resulting from infections from sick animals, with some limited follow-on transmission between humans at the household level, or within communities.

But with Clade 1B, “we have not isolated or detected zoonotic transmission of Clade 1b,” Catherine Smallwood, WHO Europe’s emergency operations program area manager, said.

“So it seems to be a strain of the virus that’s circulating exclusively within the human population.”

Experts are trying to work out if there is a difference in disease severity between Clades 1a and 1b.