VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo departed for South Kalimantan Province on Monday as part of his official visit to ensure that regional disaster handling was conducted optimally since several areas were direly impacted by the massive flooding.

The head of state, along with limited number of aides in strict adherence to the COVID-19 health protocols, took off from the Halim Perdanakusuma military air base in Jakarta on Monday morning at around 10:05 a.m. local time for Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan.

Several areas in the province were swamped by floods since last week, with tens of thousands people being evacuated.

Jokowi is scheduled to inspect locations impacted by the flooding at Pakauman District, Banjar, as well as Mataraman Bridge that collapsed on Sunday, January 17, that resulted in transportation being halted through the main road, connecting South Kalimantan to other provinces across the island.

The head of state will thereafter board a return flight to Jakarta. (antaranews)

China reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases for the sixth consecutive day, with rising infections in the northeast fuelling concerns of another national wave ahead of a major holiday season.

The National Health Commission said in a statement on Monday that a total of 109 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Jan. 17, unchanged from a day earlier.

Of the 93 local infections, 54 were reported in Hebei province that surround Beijing. Northeastern Jilin province reported a record 30 new cases, underscoring the risk of new clusters emerging.

Daily increases still remain a fraction of what the country saw at the height of the outbreak in early 2020, but authorities are implementing an aggressive package of measures including the lockdown of more than 28 million people in order to keep the disease from bringing the country to another painful standstill.

Beijing, which reported two new local infections, will begin requiring travellers from abroad to undergo health monitoring for seven additional days following 21 days of medical observation, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

The city of Gongzhuling in Jilin province has also imposed strict new controls over its population, shutting down all but essential stores. It said in a notice that it is “strictly forbidden” for anyone to go out unless they are scheduled to get a COVID-19 test at a designated site.

The outbreak in Jilin is believed to have been caused by an infected salesman travelling to and from the neigbouring province of Heilongjiang, the site of a previous cluster of cases.

The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 115 from 119 cases a day earlier.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China is 89,336, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,635. The data excludes cases from Macau and Hong Kong, which are Chinese cities but report new cases independently, and self-ruled Taiwan which China claims as its own.

The World Health Organization (WHO) team currently in China has already begun its investigations into the origins of the global pandemic.

WHO representatives said on Friday that they have begun discussions with their Chinese counterparts via videoconference as they remain in quarantine. (Reuters)

Indonesia’s daily COVID-19 cases added 11,287 infections on Sunday, taking the total tally to 907,929, according to data from the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling.

With 9,102 people recovering from the virus in 24 hours, the total recoveries reached 736,460.

Meanwhile, 220 people succumbed to the virus, taking the death toll to 25,987, the task force reported here on Sunday.

In the last 24 hours, 46,138 specimens were examined, bringing the total number of examined specimens to 8,315,839.

At present, Indonesia has 73,243 suspected COVID-19 patients across the country.

Provinces reporting the highest number of new cases on Sunday included Jakarta, with 3,395 cases; followed by Central Java (1,855); West Java (1,491); East Java (974 cases); South Sulawesi (674); East Kalimantan (454), Banten (283), and Yogyakarta (277).

Jakarta has registered a total of 227,365 cases and 201,669 recoveries, while East Java has the highest number of deaths, at 6,890.

The previous record for the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia in a day was 14,224 reported on January 16, 2021. In the meantime, Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto spoke of restrictions being tightened in specific areas in all six provinces on Java Island and Bali Province for Jan 11-25, 2021, in a bid to counter a spike in COVID-19 cases.

"Limited restrictions are applied in the Java-Bali provinces, as the provinces meet one of the four set parameters," Hartarto said during a virtual press conference here on Wednesday.

Restrictions are to be tightened in Jakarta and its adjoining areas, including Bogor City, Bogor District, Depok, Bekasi City, and Bekasi’s districts, the minister noted, as well as partly in Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Yogyakarta and Bali Provinces. (antaranews)

Mount Merapi located in the border of Central Java and Yogyakarta Provinces on Sunday morning spewed red hot lava for 36 times with a maximum glide distance of 1.5 km according to the Geological Disaster Research and Technology Development Center (BPPTKG).

Based on observations made on Sunday at between midnight and 6 a.m. local time, the lava avalanche of Mount Merapi slid toward southwest, Head of BPPTKG Hanik Humaida said in a statement.

During the observation period, Mount Merapi also experienced 43 earthquake avalanches with an amplitude of 3-23 mm for 12-188 seconds and six times a multi-phase earthquake with an amplitude of 3-5 mm for 5-8 seconds.

The volcano also spewed thick white cloud at height of up to 50 meters above the crater peak.

Previously, during the observation period on Saturday (16/1) at between 6 p.m. and midnight, Mount Merapi spewed incandescent lava for 20 times, with a maximum distance of 1,000 meters toward the southwest.

Based on observations over the past week, from January 8 to 14, 2021, the BPPTKG concluded that the volcanic activities of Mount Merapi remained quite high, hence the agency maintained the volcano's alert status at Level III.

The potential hazards due to the eruption of Merapi are estimated to cover an area within a radius of five kilometers from the top of the mountain.

The BPPTKG has recommended that mining activities in rivers that originate in Mount Merapi, tourism activities and climbing in the disaster-prone zones, must be halted. (antaranews)