Indonesia is ramping up health protocols at its key borders to deal with its returning migrant workforce amid the Covid-19 crisis.

To illustrate the magnitude of this homecoming, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said that as many as 68,614 Indonesians arrived from Malaysia alone between March 18 and April 29.

Ms Retno said the government discussed this inflow of Indonesian migrant workers at a meeting on Wednesday.

"First, we need to make sure all incoming Indonesians comply with the mandatory health protocols," Ms Retno said in a virtual press conference yesterday morning.

She was joined by Mr Tito Karnavian, Domestic Affairs Minister, and Professor Wiku Adisasmito, head of the expert team at Indonesia's Covid-19 task force.

The government has designated Jakarta, Bali, Makassar and Medan as entry points for Indonesian workers returning home by air, while Batam, Tanjung Priok, Benoa, Dumai and Tanjung Balai Karimun are the entry points for those coming back by sea.

"At each entry point, there will be dedicated quarantine facilities for those who have symptoms (of Covid-19). We also (have) dedicated transit facilities for incoming migrant workers before they go back to their homes in various areas in Indonesia," Ms Retno added.

Returning Indonesians who do not have symptoms will, nonetheless, be strongly encouraged to self-isolate at home for 14 days, Ms Retno said, adding that those who do not have separate rooms at home will be referred to centralised isolation facilities.

There are more than two million Indonesians working in Malaysia, with many of them returning to their home towns ahead of Hari Raya Aidilfitri on May 24. The festival is called Idul Fitri in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the West Java Covid-19 rapid response task force is mulling over setting up 24-hour checkpoints in the region to prevent a mudik (exodus) of travellers prior to the Hari Raya holidays, The Jakarta Post reported yesterday.

Task force secretary Daud Achmad pointed out that the roads connecting Jakarta and West Java were relatively empty during the day when the authorities stood by at the established checkpoints. However, the roads started to get crowded during the night as the checkpoints were lifted.

"We find, after conducting evaluations, that (private vehicles) are using the roads at night. We certainly don't want this to happen," Mr Daud said in a teleconference on Wednesday, adding that the authorities would work harder to make the establishment of checkpoints effective.

The Indonesian government last week announced a ban on the massive exodus to home towns for Idul Fitri in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus from Jakarta - the epicentre of the country's outbreak - and other high-risk regions to the rest of the vast archipelago.

President Joko Widodo, citing various studies, said last week that a significant number of people still want to return to their home towns.

West Java is the second-worst hit region amid the virus outbreak.

Many residents of regions across Java have been ignoring the government's ban on mudik, and are insisting on travelling home undetected even though some had tested positive for Covid-19 upon arriving in their respective home towns, The Jakarta Post reported.