VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) will provide more emergency shelters for COVID-19 patients in quake-hit West Sulawesi province to conduct self isolation.

"Only two shelters have been set up at a hospital. (BNPB Chief) Mr. Doni Mondardo wants four more shelters," Chief of the West Sulawesi Provincial Health Office dr Alief Satria said on Saturday.

He said the BNPB should immediately set up emergency shelters for COVID-19 patients who are currently being sheltered at hospitals to conduct self isolation. Moreover, contact tracing will be conducted to quake evacuees who have come in close contact with COVID-19 patients.

Field hospitals should immediately be set up to anticipate a shortage of treatment rooms due to the large number of evacuees, he said.

Moreover, almost all patients are still traumatized to stay indoors and are wary of aftershocks, he said.

The West Sulawesi Provincial Disaster Mitigation Task Force has reported a total of 89,624 people of Mamuju and Majene districts which bore the brunt of a 6.2-magnitude earthquake on January 15, are still taking refuge.

Spokesman for the task force M. Natsir said on Saturday. the evacuees are being sheltered in 249 camps comprising 105 camps with more than 100 evacuees and 124 camps with less than 100 evacuees in Mamuju and 20 camps with more than 100 evacuees in Majene.

Some 15 thousand residents fled their homes following the powerful quake.

Secretary of the West Sulawesi Province Muhammad Idris said 91 people lost their lives, 320 people were very seriously injured, 426 people were seriously injured, 240 people were moderately injured and 2,703 people were lightly injured

"Three people are still missing in Majene district and two others died at evacuee camp," he said.

A powerful quake rocked the districts of Majene and Mamuju early on Friday (Jan 15). The epicenter of the quake was located on land, six kilometers northeast of Majene, at a depth of 10 kilometers. (Antaranews)

Indonesia on Sunday added 11,788 COVID-19 infections, 7,751 recoveries, and 171 deaths over a single day, the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling reported.

With this, the total tally of cases in the country has risen to 989,262, while total recoveries have reached 798,810, and the death toll has climbed to 27,835.

At present, Indonesia has 80,114 people in 510 districts and cities who are suspected to have contracted the virus.

In the last 24 hours, a total of 48,002 specimens have been tested in laboratories across the country, bringing the cumulative examined specimens to 8,754,507 so far.

Provinces that have reported the highest number of new cases on Sunday included Jakarta, with 3,512 cases, followed by West Java (2,328), Central Java (1,515), East Java (901), East Kalimantan (432), Banten (410), Bali (292), North Sumatra (241), Yogyakarta (210), and South Sulawesi (205).

The largest number of daily recoveries have been recorded in Jakarta (3,885), followed by West Java (1,484), East Java (830), South Sulawesi (627), and Central Java (528).

Gorontalo and North Maluku Provinces reported fresh COVID-19 cases below 10 cases.

East Java registered the highest number of deaths in a single day at 56, followed by Jakarta (39), and Lampung (14).

The capital city also added 2,328 new recoveries, followed by West Java (1,767), East java (948), South Sulawesi (554), and East Kalimantan (388).

The highest cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Jakarta (249,815), followed by West Java (125,376), Central Java (115,013), and East Java (106,162).

So far, Jakarta has registered the highest number of total recoveries at 221,300, followed by West Java (102,341), East Java (90,942)., Central Java (72,659) and South Sulawesi (44,683.

In terms of the death toll, East Java has recorded the highest number of deaths at 7,381, followed by Central Java (4,892), Jakarta (3,988), West Java (1,517), and East Kalimantan (939). (antaranews)

Indonesia had been stricken by a total of 197 natural disasters during the January 1-23 period, according to data of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

Most of those disasters were hydrometeorological disasters, the agency wrote on its official Twitter account on Saturday.

The disasters comprising 134 floods, 31 landslides, and 24 whirlwinds, claimed 184 lives, injured, 2,700 people, rendered nine people missing, and affected or displaced 1.9 million people.

In January 2020, during the same period, BNPB recorded 297 disasters affecting across Indonesia, particularly massive flooding in Jakarta and surrounding areas, and claiming 91 lives.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has warned of likely hydrometeorological disasters such as floods, landslides and whirlwind, occurring simultaneously in several regions during the peak of the ongoing rainy season.

Related news: Bareskrim probes major flooding in S Kalimantan

"Since October 2020, the BMKG has issued early warnings of potential extreme weather-related conditions due to various phenomena that are feared to coincide with the rainy season," BMKG Head Dwikorita Karnawati said.

A powerful earthquake recently rocked West Sulawesi and claimed nearly 100 lives, and destroying homes, infrastructure, and public facilities.

In South Kalimantan, massive floods triggered by incessant heavy rains, inundated 10 districts and cities, and paralyzed the local economic and daily activities in the province.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), while visiting Banjar District, South Kalimantan, on January 18, said that the massive flooding was the first to have occurred in the province in the past 50 years. The 10 flood-affected districts and cities are Tapin, Banjar, Banjar Baru, Tanah Laut City, Banjarmasin City, Hulu Sungai Tengah, Balangan, Tabalong, Hulu Sungai Selatan, and Batola.

The floods claimed 15 lives, swamped 24,379 houses, and displaced 39,549 people. (Antaranews)

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan extended the implementation of the Transitional Large-Scale Social Restrictions until February 8, 2021, in order to reduce the rate of exposure to COVID-19.

Anies, in a written statement received in Jakarta, Sunday night, said that one effort was made by strengthening the Task Force for Handling COVID-19 at the sub-district level.

"The COVID-19 Task Force at the RW level has almost a year of experience. They will focus on reaching and suppressing the family cluster," said Anies.

The former Minister of Education and Culture said that the family cluster contributed 566 cases of COVID-19 transmission in Jakarta, while the office cluster accounted for 312 cases.

Anies also reminded the importance of cross-sectoral consolidation with local governments around Jakarta to tackle the spread of COVID-19.

This decision is based on observations of data per January 24 in health facilities in Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, and the surrounding areas.

According to Anies, the atmosphere of residents in Jakarta feels dreadful to the spread of COVID-19, so it is important to increase awareness.

"And we hope that this atmosphere will also be felt by residents outside Jakarta, so that the responsibility to tackle and prevent exposure to COVID-19 can be carried out together," said Anies.

The decision to extend the transitional PSBB from January 26 to February 8 is stipulated in the Governor Decree (Kepgub) Number 51 of 2021 regarding the Extension of the Enforcement of the Period and Limitation of Outdoor Activities.

This decision was made based on data compiled by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Health Office regarding the growth rate of active cases in the Capital City which was still high in the last two weeks.

The data on active cases on January 11, 2021, was 17,946 with a total of 208,583 confirmed cases in Jakarta.

Meanwhile, as of January 24, 2021, the number of active cases increased by 34 percent to 24,224, with the total number of confirmed cases in Jakarta totaling 245,815 cases.

"The number of active cases of 24,224 exceeds the highest point of active cases in Jakarta. So, this is a message to all citizens that the pandemic is not over," said Head of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Health Office, Widyastuti.

Likewise, the condition of the availability of isolation beds as of January 24, 2021, leaving only 14 percent of the 8,055 available isolation beds that were filled with 6,954 beds.

This condition, continued Widyastuti, made the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government prepare a plan to increase the capacity of isolation beds by 1,941 beds. So, the total will be 9,996 beds.

The same thing happened to the ICU in Jakarta, it was noted that the ICU capacity had been filled by 84 percent with 1,097 ICU beds and 921 ICU beds had been used.

"We will also increase the ICU capacity to 1,362 ICU beds," said Widyastuti.

The DKI Provincial Government has also made additions to health facilities and health workers in order to reduce the mortality rate and increase the cure rate.

As of January 24, 2021, of the total cases, 221,567 people were declared to have recovered with a recovery rate of 88.7 percent, and a total of 4,024 people died with a death rate of 1.6 percent while Indonesia's death rate was 2.8 percent. (antaranews)