VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Cities across China scrambled to install hospital beds and build fever screening clinics on Tuesday as authorities reported five more deaths and international concern grew about Beijing's surprise decision to let the virus run free.

China this month began dismantling its stringent "zero-COVID" regime of lockdowns and testing after protests against curbs that had kept the virus at bay for three years but at a big cost to society and the world's second-largest economy.

Now, as the virus sweeps through a country of 1.4 billion people who lack natural immunity having been shielded for so long, there is growing concern about possible deaths, virus mutations and the impact on the economy and trade.

"Every new epidemic wave in another country brings the risk of new variants, and this risk is higher the bigger the outbreak, and the current wave in China is shaping up to be big," said Alex Cook, vice-dean for research at the National University of Singapore's Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

"However, inevitably China has to go through a large wave of COVID-19 if it is to reach an endemic state, in a future without lockdowns and the economic and political damage that results."

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday the potential for the virus to mutate as it spreads in China was "a threat for people everywhere".

Beijing reported five COVID-related deaths on Tuesday, following two on Monday, which were the first fatalities reported in weeks. In total, China has reported just 5,242 COVID deaths since the pandemic emerged in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, a very low toll by global standards.

But there are rising doubts that the statistics are reflecting the true impact of a disease ripping through cities after China dropped curbs including most mandatory testing on Dec. 7.

Since then, some hospitals have become inundated, pharmacies emptied of medicines, while many people have gone into self-imposed lockdowns, straining delivery services.

"It's a bit of a burden to suddenly reopen when the supply of medications was not sufficiently prepared," said Zhang, a 31-year-old delivery worker in Beijing who declined to give his full name. "But I support the reopening.”

Some health experts estimate 60% of people in China - equivalent to 10% of the world's population - could be infected over coming months, and that more than 2 million could die.

In the capital, Beijing, security guards patrolled the entrance of a designated COVID-19 crematorium where Reuters journalists on Saturday saw a long line of hearses and workers in hazmat suits carrying the dead inside. Reuters could not establish if the deaths were due to COVID.

'GETTING SICK'

In Beijing, which has emerged as the main infection hot spot, commuters, many coughing into their masks, were back on the trains to work and streets were coming back to life after being largely deserted last week.

Streets in Shanghai, where COVID transmission rates are catching up with Beijing's, were emptier, and subway trains were only half-full.

"People are staying away because they are sick or scared of getting sick, but mostly now, I think it’s because they are actually sick,” said Yang, a trainer at a nearly empty Shanghai gym.

Top health officials have softened their tone on the threat posed by the disease in recent weeks, a U-turn from previous messaging that the virus had to be eradicated to save lives even as the rest of the world opened up.

They have also been playing down the possibility that the now predominant Omicron strain could become more virulent.

"The probability of a sudden large mutation ... is very low," Zhang Wenhong, a prominent infectious disease specialist, told a forum on Sunday in comments reported by state media.

Nevertheless, there are mounting signs the virus is buffeting China's fragile health system.

Cities are ramping up efforts to expand intensive care units and build fever clinics, facilities designed to prevent the wider spread of contagious disease in hospitals.

In the past week, major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Wenzhou announced they had added hundreds of fever clinics, some in converted sports facilities.

The virus is also hammering China's economy, expected to grow 3% this year, its worst performance in nearly half a century. Workers and truck drivers falling ill are slowing down output and disrupting logistics, economists say.

A World Economics survey showed on Monday China's business confidence fell in December to its lowest since January 2013.

Weaker industrial activity in the world's top oil importer has capped gains for crude prices and driven copper lower.

China kept benchmark lending interest rates unchanged for the fourth consecutive month on Tuesday. (Reuters)

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has said that the successful relocation of residents to safe areas was the reason there were no fatalities from the December 4, 2022, eruption of Mount Semeru, East Java.

Zero casualties were achieved although this year’s eruption had a bigger impact and affected four sub-districts, while last year's eruption affected two sub-districts, the acting head of BNPB's Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Center, Abdul Muhari, noted.

"We are grateful that during the eruption on December 4, 2022, there were absolutely no casualties," he said at the “Disaster Briefing” press conference on Monday.

All residents who previously lived in the area affected by the eruption in 2021 were relocated to another area, which was safe from the impact of eruptions, he added.

Furthermore, he lauded the quick response of the community and local government in facing an emergency situation when Mount Semeru spewed hot clouds, reaching 7 kilometers at 2:46 a.m. Western Indonesia Standard Time (WIB) on December 4.

An hour after the eruption, all residents had been shifted to a safer place.

"Although it usually takes time for the hot clouds to reach the settlement areas, on that Sunday (December 4) morning, all the settlements were immediately emptied and the residents were evacuated," the BNPB official informed.

The agency expects the affected areas will be kept totally free of settlements.

In addition, the implementation of temporary activities, such as economic activities, must pay attention to the alert level of the volcano.

For instance, when Mount Semeru is on Level III, people are prohibited from conducting any activities within a 17-kilometer radius of the volcano’s peak or along Besuk Kobokan area, Muhari said.

"However, when it drops to Level II, we can resume our activities around the affected areas, certainly we must not let our guard down," he added.

Earlier, the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Agency (PVMBG) had revised the status of Mount Semeru from Level III to Level IV at 12 p.m. WIB on December 4.

On December 9, the Geological Agency of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry lowered the status to Level III as the activities of Mount Semeru declined. (antaranews)

Job terminations by companies should have a clear basis and must be undertaken in accordance with the regulations, including those related to the fulfillment of workers' rights, the Indonesian Ombudsman has said.  

"Within the Manpower Law, there is something called regulatory audits, company's health, which are reported to the manpower supervisor," Ombudsman official Belinda Wastitiana Dewanty explained during a media talk show here on Monday.

The Ombudsman monitors whether companies have carried out internal audits and reported the results to the manpower supervisor. Based on these reports, the companies' conditions can be determined, including the likelihood of their cutting jobs.

Once a consistent audit is submitted to the manpower supervisor at the central and regional levels, then the necessary mitigation steps can be undertaken.

If job terminations are unavoidable, then the Ombudsman prefers that companies follow the specified mechanism and scheme, Dewanty stressed.

"If the option is work termination, there are certainly labor employment rights that must be guaranteed by the companies and the manpower supervisor also oversees this," she explained.

During the talk show, Ombudsman member Robert Na Endi Jaweng informed that the government has to take a conducive policy.

This is because the condition of the global economy is also affecting local manpower sectors, especially export-oriented sectors such as textile and footwear industries.

"We are not in a good situation," he noted.

Earlier, Jaweng informed that the Ombudsman has urged the Manpower Ministry and regional manpower offices to scrutinize the audits of companies to mitigate job terminations.

During a certain period, companies are audited by the public accountant office, he informed at a virtual press conference on December 1, 2022.

The results of the audit must be examined to gauge the trend within the company, he added. (antaranews)

Around 100 thousand police personnel will be involved in securing the Christmas and New Year celebrations at the end of this year, a police official has said.

The personnel will be drawn from the police headquarters and related institutions, head of the audit and inspection sub-directorate of the Safety and Security Directorate of the Police's National Traffic Department, Chief Commissioner Aries Syahbudin, informed.

The security operation will not only prioritize aspects of security, safety, and smoothness, but also health, he said during an event entitled "Christmas and New Year Infrastructure Readiness and Health Protocol,” which was streamed on YouTube on Monday.

Much like during the 2022 Eid Exodus, the police will also prepare posts for the administration of booster vaccines to those who have not received them.

"This is one of our supports in addition to traffic smoothness and public activity security," he said.

According to Syahbudin, people's enthusiasm for going on vacation is very high. Moreover, the COVID-19 positive case trend has also started to decline.

However, people must still remain wary of the declining case trend.

To secure this year’s celebrations, security posts and service posts will be set up at several points where people are expected to gather, whether on the road or at tourism locations, he said.

"There will be several service posts in collaboration with the Police's Dokkes (Doctor and Health) as well as regional governments' health office," he informed.

"The Christmas and New Year operation is a humanitarian operation, which is intended to serve the people while carrying out their activities, specifically in welcoming the Christmas and New Year holidays," he remarked. (antaranews)