VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The number of people who have received the third or first booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine increased by 19,402 as of 12 p.m. local time on Friday to reach 68,201,141, the COVID-19 Task Force reported.

According to data from the task force, the number of first dose recipients climbed by 4,718 from the previous day to bring the total to 203,952,641.

Meanwhile, the number of second dose or complete dose recipients rose by 5,994 to reach 174,666,157.

However, the coverage of the fourth or second booster dose—which is still being prioritized for health workers and the elderly—only reached 1,130,087, with only 2,437 targeted recipients getting the shot on Friday.

Overall, the government is targeting to vaccinate as many as 234,666,020 citizens against COVID-19.

To push up vaccination coverage among the elderly, government spokesperson for COVID-19, Reisa Broto Asmoro, has appealed to all families to assist the elderly in regularly checking for E-tickets issued for the fourth or second booster dose by the government through the PeduliLindungi application.

Asmoro said that the families could teach the elderly to access PeduliLindungi’s “vaccines and immunizations” feature to find out the steps for checking e-tickets for the second booster.

After selecting this feature, the elderly can use the COVID-19 vaccine option to get immediately directed to the vaccine ticket option. Thereafter, they can press their displayed name to see their vaccination status.

"When it appears, that's what is called a ticket for the second booster vaccine, and you can immediately come to the nearest medical facility because this is mostly available in hospitals or health centers that provide immunization clinics," she explained.

Tickets will automatically be issued for seniors aged above 60 whose data has been registered with PeduliLindungi.

The number of vaccination posts or sites will not be as many as at the beginning of the pandemic. However, families can immediately bring the elderly to the nearest medical facility as soon as tickets are issued.

"E-tickets are usually issued for the second booster automatically once the registered one's age is 60 years and over, then the timeframe from the first booster registered on the application is six months," she informed.

She also asked the public to continue to follow and monitor the government's official channels to avoid falling prey to hoaxes and ensure they do not miss any information regarding the administration and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, especially ahead of the year-end holidays.

Everyone is expected to work together to build an environment that is safe from COVID-19 transmission so that the public, from the vulnerable to the healthy, can be protected and to prevent an increase in cases after the long holiday period. (Antaranews)

The number of patients recovering from COVID-19 increased by 2,812 to reach 6,533,088 on Friday, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force reported.

Based on data received here on Friday, the highest recoveries were seen in five provinces, namely West Java (1,590), Jakarta (618), East Java (131), Central Java (80), and Yogyakarta (51).

Meanwhile, the number of active cases declined by 1,908 to reach 21,207.

Though the pandemic situation is starting to come under control, the trend of increasing positive cases will need to continue to be monitored. As of Friday, Indonesia added 923 positive cases, taking the total tally to 6,714,802.

The most positive cases were reported from Jakarta (280), West Java (265), East Java (84), Banten (61), and Central Java (56).

Based on the task force’s report, the number of deaths due to COVID-19 continued to show an increasing trend. With 19 additional deaths on Friday, the total death toll reached 160,507.

As of Friday, at least 40,497 specimens had been examined at all Indonesian laboratories and 2,972 suspected cases of COVID-19 had been identified.

Though several indicators are currently starting to improve, vigilance against the risk of COVID-19 transmission will have to be observed as the global pandemic situation has not been fully brought under control, spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Professor Wiku Adisasmito said.

"Seeing that the world situation is still not under control, vigilance must be maintained," he reiterated.

According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia is under control, marked by community activities being carried out as usual or the same as before the pandemic.

Over the past three weeks, the addition of weekly positive cases, active cases, and weekly deaths in Indonesia has decreased.

Meanwhile, five countries are currently experiencing an increase in weekly cases—Japan, South Korea, Australia, Germany, and China.

The five countries are still recording around 16 thousand to 142 thousand positive cases on average every day.

With the situation in Indonesia relatively under control, Adisasmito appealed to all parties to stay vigilant while performing their daily activities, especially ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays.

People are still being urged to wear masks and wash hands with water or use hand sanitizers.

"Moreover, the potential for an increase in cases will be higher at the end of the year due to increased community activity. Therefore, the cooperation of all parties from the central, regional governments, tourist destinations, and the community is needed to create a safe environment amid COVID-19," he added. (Antaranews)

The existence of a government system that adheres to the principle of decentralization through regional autonomy has provided space for regional governments to innovate, according to Minister of Home Affairs, Muhammad Tito Karnavian.

"The existence of a regional autonomous government system provides greater space for regions to maneuver in innovation, creativity for their respective regions," he said at the “2022 Innovative Government Award (IGA)” event in Jakarta on Friday.

Moreover, given the direct regional head election (pilkada) system, regional innovations are a separate demand from the community, he said. This is because regional heads chosen by the community have the responsibility to serve and meet the needs of their citizens.

"These regional innovations are a demand from the community so that their regions can move quickly too, and this requires quick steps from regional heads to make breakthroughs, which are sometimes out of the box," he explained.

The minister further said that decentralization provides greater space for regions to make breakthroughs and offer the best services to their people. This is different from a top-to-bottom centralized system.

For instance, it was innovation that led to Indonesia being entrusted with the responsibility of hosting the G20 event, he added.

"This is proof that innovation can boost the Indonesian nation to leap even further," Karnavian said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday recognized innovative regions through the “2022 Innovative Government Award (IGA).”

The awards are expected to become a reference for the public in assessing the performance of regional leaders, the minister said.

Innovation is at the heart of bringing about changes in any aspect of life, he underlined earlier.

"Innovation is at the heart of making change. No community, state, nation, or society will be able to jump without innovation," Karnavian said.

As time progresses, there are external and internal factors that cannot be contained, such as globalization, the minister pointed out.

Every country must survive amid the competitive climate that is getting tougher, in addition to the development of information technology (IT), he added.

"That (IT) made the third wave of revolutionary change happen. Hence, Indonesia must also innovate in the international competitive climate," he stressed.

In terms of internal factors, he highlighted that since 1999, the Indonesian government is no longer centralized but has become decentralized by according greater autonomy to the regions.

In the era before implementing regional autonomy, he noted, the government was highly centralized, which did not provide a wide space for the region to innovate outside existing corridors. (Antaranews)

Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian has said that governors, mayors, and district heads in all regions and Aceh, in particular, will be evaluated every three months as they carry out their mandate as regional heads.

"I ask acting governors, mayors, and district heads in Aceh, particularly, to work optimally and improve government management in order to increase regional revenues," he said in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, on Thursday.

He made the statement on the sidelines of a regional leadership coordination meeting, which was also attended by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, Mahfud MD; acting governor of Aceh, Achmad Marzuki; head of Wali Nanggroe Aceh, Malik Mahmud; chairperson of Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI); president director of PT Pos, Faizal Rochmad Djoemadi; mayors; and district heads from across Aceh province.

Karnavian said that his ministry has appointed 19 regional acting heads and one of them is the acting governor of Aceh. The number of officials appointed is among the largest in the country to fill vacant positions of regional heads who have ended their term of office.

According to him, the acting governors, mayors, and district heads are civil servants who are occupying structural positions that are not bound by political parties and are not even members of a political party.

Those who have been appointed will not incur political costs, therefore, they will not have the burden to bring change to the region and also the community, Karnavian emphasized.

"I ask all regional acting head officials to work optimally and improve and make new breakthroughs in increasing regional income," the minister said.

He then asked all acting regional heads to encourage young people in their areas to become entrepreneurs and help them gain access to capital and improve the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector.

"Please continue to look for breakthroughs to revive various economic sectors in order to improve the people's welfare," he added.

Karnavian further said that he will conduct an evaluation for those who are unable to work optimally with other candidates who are currently ready to contribute to developing the region. (Antaranews)