VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Europe launched a mass COVID-19 vaccination drive on Sunday with pensioners and medics lining up to get the first shots to see off a pandemic that has crippled economies and claimed more than 1.7 million lives worldwide.

“Thank God,” 96-year-old Araceli Hidalgo said as she became the first person in Spain to have a vaccine at her care home in Guadalajara, near the capital Madrid.

“Let’s see if we can make this virus go away.”

In Italy, the first country in Europe to record significant numbers of infections, 29-year-old nurse Claudia Alivernini was one of three medical staff at the head of the queue for the shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

“It is the beginning of the end ... it was an exciting, historic moment,” she said at Rome’s Spallanzani hospital.

The region of 450 million people is trying to catch up with the United States and Britain, which have already started vaccinations using the Pfizer shot.

The European Union is due to receive 12.5 million doses by the end of the year, enough to vaccinate 6.25 million people based on the two-dose regimen. The companies are scrambling to meet global demand and aim to make 1.3 billion shots next year.

The bloc has secured contracts with a range of drugmakers besides Pfizer, including Moderna and AstraZeneca, for a total of more than two billion vaccine doses and has set a goal for all adults to be inoculated during 2021.

With surveys pointing to high levels of hesitancy towards the vaccine in countries from France to Poland, leaders of the 27-country European Union are promoting it as the best chance of getting back to something like normal life next year.

“We have a new weapon against the virus: the vaccine. We must stand firm, once more,” tweeted French President Emmanuel Macron, who tested positive for the coronavirus this month and left quarantine on Christmas Eve.

But Ireneusz Sikorski, 41, leaving church in the Polish capital of Warsaw, was sceptical.

“I don’t think there’s a vaccine in history that has been tested so quickly,” he said. “I am not saying vaccination shouldn’t be taking place. But I am not going to test an unverified vaccine on my children, or on myself.” (Reuters)

South Korean officials are vowing to speed up efforts to launch a public coronavirus vaccination programme as the country on Monday announced it had detected its first cases of the virus variant linked to the rapid rise in infections in Britain.

The new variant, thought to be more transmissible than others currently circulating, was found in three people who had entered South Korea from London on Dec. 22, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Monday.

Overall the KDCA reported 808 new cases as of midnight Sunday, the lowest since a record 1,241 infections were logged on Friday.

Authorities cautioned that the drop may be due to less testing done over the weekend and the Christmas holiday, and said on Sunday they would be extending social distancing measures until early January.

South Korea’s government has faced mounting domestic criticism over its vaccine procurement and rollout plans, which call for the first vaccinations to begin in the first quarter of next year, months after places such as the United States and the European Union.

Negative views of the vaccine plans was one of the leading reasons that drove President Moon Jae-in’s disapproval rating to an all-time high of nearly 60%, pollster Realmeter said on Monday.

Regulators will shorten the period required to approve vaccines and treatments from and average of 180 days to as little as 40 days, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on Sunday.

An additional approval process for the distribution and sale of vaccines, which usually takes several months, will be shortened to around 20 days, the ministry said.

Medical workers and elderly residents will begin receiving the vaccinations in February, and plans to vaccinate the broader public is accelerating, presidential chief of staff Noh Young-min said Sunday.

“The government is doing all it can to advance this time frame and is also making progress,” he said.

South Korea has said it plans to buy enough doses to eventually vaccinate 46 million people, or more than 85% of its population.

Noh said authorities expected South Korea’s population to reach a level of herd immunity through the vaccines as fast or faster than many other countries.

South Korea has reported a total of 57,680 coronavirus cases, with 819 deaths. (Reuters)

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) has seized 300 kilograms of illegal deer meat packed in seven boxes in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) planned to be transported to the neighboring Bima District in West Nusa Tenggara.

"The 300 kg of meat were allegedly originated from the Komodo National Park," head of the ministry's Law Enforcement Agency for Java-Bali-Nusa Tenggara area M Nur said in a statement here on Sunday.

The authority has named a suspect, convicted with article 40 law no. 5/1990 on natural conservation with maximum five years of jail sentence and Rp100 million in fine.

In addition to the 300 kg of meat, the police has also secured a minivan and a celullar phone for further investigation of the case.

Nur said, the meat were allegedly hunt results from the Komodo National Park which has a large population of deer.

"We will investigate the case to find out the financier of the protected animal hunt," he added.

Nur noted that population of deer, buffalo and other animals in the conservation area should be maintained as important preys for the giant lizard to protect the ecosystem balance.

"Any disturbance to the Komodo habitat must be tackled firmly. Apart from that we also pay attention to the preservation of marine biota and habitat," he said. (antaranews)

The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR)'s Infrastructure and Regional Development Agency (BPIW) has said the Wakatobi tourism area development in Southeast Sulawesi is expected to create job opportunities.

"Support for tourism development in the Wakatobi area through the Integrated Tourism Master Plan (ITMP) is to increase the number of tourists, increase tourist spending in Wakatobi in order to revive the local economy, and also to provide new jobs," Head of BPIW Hadi Sucahyono said in a statement here on Sunday.

The development in Wakatobi tourism area is jointly carried out by the Ministry of National Development Planning / National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, and the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).

The Integrated Tourism Master Plan (ITMP) covers the components of institutional aspect, infrastructure aspect, which includes road infrastructure and basic infrastructure such as drinking water and sanitation, tourism Human Resources (HR) aspect which is the responsibility of the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, and promotion aspect by BKPM.

Since 1996, Wakatobi has had a national marine park covering a total area of 1.39 million hectares. The national park has 25 clusters of coral reef, 600-km long coastal line, 112 species of coral reef from 13 families, and 93 species of fish.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Southeast Sulawesi, Ali Mazi, hoped that Labingki area to be included in the development program of Wakatobi tourism area.

Labingki has beautify beaches that could attract domestic and foreign tourists, according to the governor.

In addition to Wakatobi, seven other districts of Southeast Sulawesi, are potential to be developed into tourist resorts, he added. (antaranews)