VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia has inked supply deals with AstraZeneca and Novavax for obtaining a total of 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi stated on Wednesday.

"Today, we have just secured the supply of as many as 50 million doses each from AstraZeneca and Novavax," Marsudi stated during a virtual press conference held after the signing.

No further details are available as to when the British and US firms will commence the shipment of their vaccines.

In the meantime, the COVID-19 vaccine from Chinese Sinovac, which had earlier secured a deal with Indonesia, is scheduled to arrive here on Thursday (Dec 31) of another 1.8 million doses, Marsudi remarked.

"This arrival marks a total of three million doses of Sinovac's vaccine in Indonesia," she stated, noting that the first batch of 1.2 million doses of the vaccine had arrived in Indonesia in early December.

However, Indonesia also maintains multilateral cooperation on vaccine procurement through the World Health Organization-initiated COVAX-AMC (Advance Market Commitment) that allows the country to secure vaccines for some three to 20 percent of its total population.

Apart from domestic procurement, Indonesia is also upholding the principle of equitable access for the COVID-19 vaccine globally, as the government contributes through the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

"These all things demonstrate that Indonesia is not only thinking about our need but rather also contributing to make any other countries have equal access to the vaccine," Marsudi emphasized. (Antaranews)

Development of an electric-vehicle battery manufacturing plant will start in the first semester of 2021 after Indonesia's state enterprises consortium and South Korea's LG Energy Solution Ltd inked an agreement worth US$9.8 billion (Rp142 trillion).

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Indonesia's Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia and LG Energy Solution in Seoul, South Korea, on December 18 and was borne witness by South Korea's Trade, Industry, and Energy Minister Sung Yun-mo.

"The investment totals US$9.8 billion or some Rp142 trillion. It is a remarkable amount because according to the BKPM data, there was no such big investment during the post-reform era," Lahadalia stated here on Wednesday.

Under the MoU, both parties agreed to develop a strategic investment project in the manufacturing of the electric-vehicle battery cell that is integrated to the mining industry, smelter, refining, precursor and cathode industry.

The state enterprises consortium comprised MIND ID (Inalum), PT Aneka Tambang, PT PLN (Persero), and PT Pertamina (Persero).

The agreement was a follow up of the bilateral meeting between Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, in Busan on November 2019.

The project will be developed at two locations, specifically North Maluku for the mining industry and smelter, while the manufacturing plant for the precursor, cathode, and some parts of the battery cell will be built in the Batang Integrated Industrial Area in Central Java.

Some of the produced batteries will be delivered to the country's electric vehicle plant that will start production in the near future.

"This is because Batang is a strategic industrial area to be developed. There will be a combination of foreign investor, state enterprises, national industry, national businessmen in regions, as well as small- and medium-scale enterprises," he remarked.

Lahadalia stated that development of the plant will commence in the first semester of 2021.

"The groundbreaking ceremony is expected to be held in the first semester of 2021," he noted.

According to Lahadalia, development of the integrated electric-vehicle battery industry is a concrete move in line with the government's target to boost economic transformation toward an Advanced Indonesia by 2045. Downstreaming in the mining sector is one form of the transformation.

Countries globally have begun to reduce fuel oil consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, with the utilization of electric vehicles to be increased to 15-100 percent of the total vehicles.

In 2040, the number of electric vehicles is expected to reach 49 million, or some 50 percent of the total vehicles globally. Some manufacturers have also begun to shift their conventional vehicle production line to electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles will constitute some 20-50 percent of the production.

The target of electric vehicle use is projected to increase in several countries. During 2020-2030, China has targeted to increase the utilization of electric vehicles to 8.75 million units; Thailand, 250 thousand; Vietnam, 100 thousand; Malaysia, 100 thousand; and India, 55 thousand electric cars and one million electric motorcycles.

Indonesia has targeted to use four million electric cars and 10 million electric motorcycles by 2035. (Antaranews)

With another 8,002 Indonesians contracting COVID-19 in 24 hours, the total tally of infections reached 735,124 on Wednesday, according to the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling.

Meanwhile, an additional 6,958 coronavirus patients made a complete recovery, which brought the total number of recoveries to 603,741.

With 241 COVID-19 patients succumbing to the virus, the total death toll reached 21,944.

The data was obtained from the examination of 72,922 specimens in a day. The cumulative number of specimens examined in Indonesia has reached 7,297,374 so far.

The country has also registered 67,615 suspected COVID-19 infections in 510 districts and cities in 34 provinces.

Jakarta contributed the highest number of fresh cases on Wednesday at 2,053, followed by West Java (1,233), Central Java (951), East Java (896), South Sulawesi (538), East Kalimantan (319), Yogyakarta (296), Banten (172), Central Sulawesi (169), and Bali (157).

Four provinces reported less than 10 new cases, while Maluku saw no fresh COVID-19 cases.

Central Java province reported the most deaths in a single day at 79, followed by East Java (61), Jakarta (21), and Yogyakarta (11).

Meanwhile, the provinces that reported the most recoveries were Jakarta (1,574), followed by West Java (1,208), East Java (911), Central Java (439), and South Sulawesi (421).

The COVID-19 tally in Jakarta has so far reached 181,713, East Java 83,217, West Java 82,555, Central Java 80,777, and South Sulawesi 30,568.

Jakarta also recorded the highest total number of COVID-19 recoveries at 162,817, followed by East Java (71,378), West Java (69,561), Central Java (53,867), and South Sulawesi (25,861).

Meanwhile, East Java reported the highest death toll at 5,762, followed by Central Java at 3,501, Jakarta 3,249, West Java 1,161, and East Kalimantan 738. (Antaranews)

The youth and people in the working age group account for the majority of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, according to the Task Force for COVID-19 Response.

Nearly 55-70 percent of confirmed COVID-19 patients are aged between 6 and 45 years, head of the Task Force's data and information technology division, Dr. Dewi Nur Aisyah, stated during a discussion here on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, most of the people who died of the infection were senior citizens, the task force reported. Nearly 60 percent to 87.12 percent of those who succumbed to the virus were aged above 46 years, as per data obtained from 10 provinces.

"They all face relatively the same condition where cases can potentially increase anywhere," she said.

She further informed that there has been a significant rise in national COVID-19 cases per month. The COVID-19 death toll rose 42.7 percent to 4,397 in December from 3,081 a month earlier.

The spike occurred after a declining trend in the death toll in October and November. The increase in the number of deaths was likely the result of a long weekend, which led to a significant rise in infections, Dr. Aisyah said. (Antaranews)