VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Bali provincial government has received 2,400 ventilators from the Australian government to help handle COVID-19 cases in the tourist island.

"Once again, we, on behalf of the Bali provincial government and the community, express gratitude for the assistance," Bali Vice Governor Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati said while receiving the assistance from Australian Consul General Anthea Griffin at the cargo warehouse of the I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Badung, Bali, on Wednesday.

The assistance also included 1,440 pieces of FFM-SML-Row masks and 1,460 pieces of FFM-LGE-Row masks, he noted.

He expressed the hope that both Australia and Indonesia will soon be free from the COVID-19 pandemic and relations between the two countries will be more solid than before.

The assistance will be very useful to handle the COVID-19 pandemic in Bali, he said.

COVID-19 cases in Bali are still fluctuating, he remarked. Hopefully, the curve of COVID-19 cases will flatten soon thanks to various steps taken to handle the pandemic, he added.

"This way Bali will be able to recover and the economy and tourism will return to normal," he said.

Meanwhile, Griffin said the assistance is meant as humanitarian aid to help alleviate the burden on the Bali provincial government, particularly in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

As neighboring states, Australia and Indonesia should offer mutual help although Australia is still battling the pandemic, she said. However, mutual help remains an obligation, she added.

"We hope this assistance can be used as good as possible and we hope the pandemic will be over soon so everything will return to normal," Griffin said.  (Antaranews)