VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil participated in the Phase III of Clinical Trials of Sinovac COVID-19 Vaccine in Bandung recently. (ANTARA/Bagus Ahmad Rizaldi)

The Padjadjaran University's Research Team for the Clinical Trials of Sinovac COVID-19 Vaccine revealed that 248 volunteers, including West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil, had been administered the vaccine.

"As many as 21 of the 248 volunteers have even received the second vaccine injections without having serious symptoms," the Unpad's research team manager, Eddy Fadliyana, said in a statement in Bandung, the capital of West Java Province, on Sunday.

None of the participating volunteers suffered serious symptoms after receiving the first and second vaccine injections, Fadliyana said, adding that the research on the clinical trials could be concluded successfully to enable the vaccine to be produced.

Among the volunteers who have received the vaccine injections are West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil and several officials of the provincial government.

Head of the Disease Prevention and Control Unit at Bandung City's Health Office Rosye Arosdiani Apip said earlier that the first batch of volunteers participating in the phase III clinical trials received the vaccine injections at several health centers.

The health facilities comprise Unpad's Health Center and Faculty of Medicine as well as the Garuda, Ciumbuleuit, Dago, and Sukapakir Public Health Centers.

In the first batch, one volunteer failed to participate in the clinical trial at the Garuda Public Health Center after receiving a reactive result in his rapid test, Apip revealed.

The Padjadjaran University's Research Team for Clinical Trials of Sinovac COVID-19 Vaccine need 1,620 volunteers who meet all required criteria for being able to participate in the clinical trials.

State-owned pharmaceutical holding company Bio Farma recently collaborated with Chinese company Sinovac to produce the COVID-19 vaccine for Indonesia. The COVID-19 vaccine material from Sinovac arrived in Indonesia on July 19.

Novel coronavirus infections initially surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019.

Since then, COVID-19 has spread to over 215 countries and territories, including 34 provinces of Indonesia, with a massive spurt in death toll.

To tackle this COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia is leaving no stone unturned to develop a vaccine to fight the virus.

Currently, in addition to the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, Indonesian scientists are working on a vaccine named after the country's national flag, Merah Putih (Red and White). (ANTARA)

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto (ANTARA)

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto has said Indonesia's economy has started to move positively again after being badly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic since early March 2020.

"We see that in the third and fourth periods, there has been a positive reversal in which the Purchasing Managers Index or PMI has increased to nearly 50 from 46.9," Airlangga Hartarto said while speaking during a national campaign on face mask wearing held at GBK main stadium, Senayan, Jakarta, on Sunday.

"We can see that our trade has also enjoyed a surplus of over 3 billion US dollars and a year to date of around 8 billion US dollars. And of course these have contributed to the state's reserves," he said, adding that in the capital market, a number of sectors also began to grow and were expected to lead to the domestic economic recovery.

After experiencing the lowest point on April 1, 2020, many sectors now started to grow, such the sector of industry went up 31.85 percent, chemical industry 31 percent, agriculture 28 percent, finance 20 percent, mining 20 percent, consumer goods 18, 5 percent, infrastructure 11.5 percent, and trade 6.7 percent, the coordinating minister pointed out.

"From an economic point of view, the index in the capital market specifically in several sectors, including banking, has increased at a range of 20 to 30 percent," he said.

In addition to, motor vehicle sales, that were previously minus 80 percent, now started to improve to minus 40 percent.

"The government hopes that this trend can be maintained, but we first must take care of the health sector. As the vaccine is still being developed, hence wearing a mask is the main key to our economic recovery," he said.

He emphasized that the national economic recovery during this pandemic must start from the discipline of the community in wearing face masks.

The National Face Mask Campaign Movement was organized by the Committee for the COVID-19 Handling and the National Economic Recovery (PC-PEN) chaired by Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto.

A total of 22,500 face masks from the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs and 20,000 face masks from the Health Ministry were distributed to people exercising in the GBK area during the campaign.

The government will later also organize campaigns to promote hand washing and maintaining physical distancing. (ANTARA)

President Director of Home Financing Fund Management (PPDPP) Arief Sabaruddin noted in a written statement released on Saturday. ANTARA/HO-Kementerian PUPR

 The Public Works and Housing Ministry will encourage the utilization of the people's products and support industrial estate development to facilitate the nation's economic recovery.

"On average, products developed by the research and development center of the Public Works and Housing Ministry are those of small- and medium-scale businesses. That is what the minister is encouraging. For instance, the construction of instant healthy low-cost houses (RISHA)," President Director of Home Financing Fund Management (PPDPP) Arief Sabaruddin noted in a written statement released on Saturday.

Sabaruddin pointed out that the benefit received by each individual was huge. For instance, the development of a house of type 36 required 138 panels. The labor cost of each panel reached Rp11,000.

Meanwhile, Director General of Public Works and Housing Infrastructure Financing Eko D. Heripoerwanto noted that economic recovery in the housing sector was also conducted through the expedited implementation of subsidized home financing programs, including the home financing liquidity facility (FLPP), interest difference subsidy, and saving-based home financing assistance.

As of August 2020, a total of Rp8.54 trillion of FLPP funding was distributed for 84,080 homes.

In total, Rp52.91 trillion of FLPP funds were distributed between January 2010 and 2020 for 739,682 homes.

Earlier, Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono had stressed that the home sector should play a major role in mitigating the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The development of housing infrastructures will have a manifold effect on expediting growth in other sectors.  (ANTARA)

Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto. (ANTARA/Desca Natalia/pri)

Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto received personal protective equipment (PPE) worth 2 million Australian dollars provided by the Australian Defense Ministry for the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) at the Halim Perdanakusuma Airbase in Jakarta on Saturday.

Australian Defense Minister Linda Reynolds handed the PPE assistance, comprising gloves, medical gowns, face masks, and diagnostic thermometers, to Subianto at the airbase. The assistance was transported to Indonesia on a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) C-130 Hercules plane.

Reynolds said Indonesia and Australia are longstanding partners that have strong relations and a long history of cooperation, particularly in times of need.

"COVID-19 brings a new challenge and uncertainty for our two countries. Like the Australian Armed Forces there, TNI plays an important role in supporting the handling of COVID-19 in Indonesia," she said in a statement.

The armed forces of the two countries have also established cooperation and exchanged knowledge on COVID-19 handling, she added.

Meanwhile, Subianto lauded the military cooperation between the two neighboring nations. In addition to assistance for the COVID-19 pandemic, both countries have also frequently held joint exercises, he said.

Australia has invited many TNI officers to study at the Australian military academy, he added.

In return, Indonesia sent personnel to Australia early this year to help fight land and forest fires in New South Wales, he said. (ANTARA)