VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan declared that the COVID-19 vaccination program will begin on Wednesday (Jan 13), with a favorable impact estimated to show in next three months.

"We start the national vaccination on Wednesday, and I think quite a good impact is expected after three months," Pandjaitan stated at the launch of the 2021 National Movement on Proud of Made in Indonesia Products, held offline and online, from the I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, on Monday.

At the event also attended by Deputy Governor of Bali Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardana Sukawati, the minister reminded Bali authorities to tighten the application of health protocols and to increase the number of COVID-19 tests.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Bali rose following the long New Year’s and Christmas holidays.

Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto revealed that at a limited cabinet meeting, President Joko Widodo approved the extension of a ban on the entry of foreign nationals (WNA) into Indonesia until January 28, 2021.

"The president agreed to extend the ban on the entry of foreign nationals into Indonesia," Hartarto stated at a press conference here on Monday.

Indonesia initially announced to close its borders to foreign nationals during the period from January 1 to January 14, 2021, and it has been extended until January 28, 2021.

"It has been extended twice for seven days, so that means it is extended for another 14 days," he pointed out.

The number of unemployed people in Indonesia has risen by 2.6 million to reach 9.7 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah has said.

“Based on BPS (Central Statistics Agency) data, the number of unemployed people stood at 9.7 million nationwide. This means that the figure increased by 2.6 million,” she said while visiting the job training center in the Aceh provincial capital of Banda Aceh on Monday.

The minister said Indonesia had managed to limit the number of unemployed to nearly 7 million before the COVID-19 pandemic. The figure rose to 9.77 million amid the spread of COVID-19, she added.

Because of the pandemic, many Indonesian workers who were previously employed in the formal sector are currently working in the informal sector, she informed.

To that end, the government has made mitigation efforts, ranging from encouraging the continuation of businesses to providing incentives to them, she said.

"We have distributed subsidies among workers participating in the BPJAMSOSTEK (worker social security agency) program. Nearly 98 percent of the targeted 12.4 million workers have been covered," she said.

In addition, the government has also launched a pre-employment card program, a productive labor-intensive program, and expanded job opportunities through entrepreneurship training, she said.

“The government has done them all to ensure that COVID-19 affected workers will survive during this pandemic,” she remarked.  (Antaranews)

Indonesia's Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) approved a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech for emergency use, the office's chairwoman, Penny K. Lukito, stated during a virtual press conference here on Monday.

"CoronaVac has met the requirements for EUA (emergency use approval)," Lukito highlighted while referring to Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine.

The approval for emergency use was granted after a comprehensive review of the vaccine's interim results of the late clinical trials conducted by Sinovac in Indonesia, Brazil, and Turkey.

Result of the trials conducted in Bandung by Sinovac and state-owned vaccine manufacturer BioFarma showed CoronaVac to be 65.3-percent effective, essentially clearing the minimum standard set by the World Health Organization for an emergency use approval at 50 percent.

In Brazil, the vaccine was tested to be 78-percent effective, while it was found to be 91-percent effective in a test result in Turkey, Lukito revealed.

The chairwoman spoke of her office also having met with the National Commission for Drug Review, epidemiologists, and the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI) to share and to peer-review the vaccine's test results.

Lukito notified the press that after the approval, the BPOM will closely monitor the likely side-effects occurring during the first inoculation on Wednesday.

The Indonesian government will launch its vaccine program, with President Joko Widodo receiving the first COVID-19 vaccine shot, and the vaccination drive planned to continue on January 14-15 in several regions across the country, Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian had announced last week.

"Nearly 5.8 million (Indonesians) will be vaccinated in January. In total, 182 million (Indonesians) will be vaccinated. With each citizen receiving two shots of the vaccination, 182 million (Indonesians) will need almost 400 million vaccine doses," President Joko Widodo stated while addressing his ministers at a meeting on last Friday.

The Indonesian government has ordered at least 329.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from several sources. (Antaranews)