VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. Indonesian Muslims welcomed the fasting month of Ramadhan on Tuesday even as the national vaccination program continued full steam with a target of inoculating 40,349,049 citizens by June this year.

According to the Indonesian government's COVID-19 task force, at least 10,261,791 Indonesian citizens have been inoculated against the coronavirus as of April 12, 2021.

Of the total figure, 5,310,739 people have received their second vaccine shots.

Speaking on immunizations during Ramadhan, the Health Ministry's spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination Program, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, disclosed that the fasting month would not disrupt the COVID-19 vaccination program.

"The vaccination takes place at noon. The alternative time for the vaccination is at night in certain conditions," she said during a webinar on vaccinations during Ramadhan, originating from here on Tuesday.

Indonesia has been striving to win the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic since March last year.

To stem the spread of the disease, the government has rolled out a nationwide vaccination program since January 13 this year.

According to the Health Ministry, it will take about 15 months to vaccinate about 181.5 million people under the national program.

The time-frame for conducting the vaccination extends from January, 2021 to March, 2022.

During the period, the government is targeting to inoculate about 181.5 million people, including 1.3 million paramedics and 17.4 million public sector workers in 34 provinces.

The first phase of the government's immunization program has been divided into two periods: January-April, 2021 and April, 2021-March, 2022.

Even amid vaccine rollouts, Indonesia has remained in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic, which has affected nations globally.

As of early this week, Indonesia recorded 4,829 new positive cases, which took the country's coronavirus tally to 1,571,824 cases since the government officially announced the first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.

The coronavirus pandemic has severely hit public health and economy in Indonesia, and even crippled some sectors, such as travel and tourism.

To revive the tourism sector, the Indonesian government is planning to implement a travel bubble.

In the first stage of its implementation, the travel bubble between Indonesia and Singapore will run between Singapore and Bintan, Riau Islands. (Antaranews)