VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati echoed the Islamic Development Bank's (IsDB's) readiness to furnish emergency funds worth US$200-250 million to overcome the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.

"The COVID-19 emergency fund from IsDB during the negotiation process ranged from US$200 million to US$250 million," Indrawati stated on the Instagram page monitored here on Monday.

The minister noted that this was one of the outcomes of virtual discussions with IsDB President Bandar Hajjar pertaining to the government's steps in the fields of health, social assistance, and business incentives.

On the occasion, he ensured that IsDB will offer joint support along with other multilateral financial institutions, including the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

"IsDB has launched the 3R program (Response, Restore, Restart)," Indrawati remarked.

The government had earlier ensured that it would rely on loans from multilateral institutions to support the financing of various stimulus programs. (ANTARA))

However, funding from multilateral institutions is not an urgent step to be utilized for handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

The most crucial step taken by the government is to conduct several reallocations or refocus on non-urgent State Budget (APBN) spending, such as official travel or meetings.

Furthermore, the government will rely on debt issuance financing, such as pandemic bonds to deal with the widening budget deficit. 

Indonesia has readied 10 thousand beds at one thousand hospitals for patients, who contracted coronavirus nationwide in order to upgrade the capacity and quality of healthcare facilities, according to the National Task Force for COVID-19.

"Over a thousand hospitals are now functioning to treat COVID-19 patients, whether confirmed positive cases or patients under observation (PDP)," Achmad Yurianto, the government’s spokesperson for COVID-19 response, stated during a daily press briefing here on Monday.

The hospitals comprise those under the management of the central government and local governments as well as police and military in addition to private hospitals. Some seven to eight thousand beds among the available 10 thousand are currently occupied, he noted.

The authority has ensured that hospitals across Indonesia will have sufficient capacity to accommodate patients.

Concurrently, the government will continue to upgrade infrastructure to self-produce testing kit and reagent for the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, as "it becomes significant and one of the government's priorities."

Over 75 thousand specimens has been tested using this method and contact tracing, and more tests will be conducted on a massive scale.

"This is the key for us to achieve more than 10,000 real-time PCR tests per day across Indonesia and is important as testing, tracing, treatment, as well as the trimming movement are the all-rounded concept to adopt in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic," Yurianto noted.

Indonesia reported a total of 9,096 COVID-19 positive cases, with 1,151 patients having recovered while another 765 patients succumbing to the disease, as of April 27 at 12:00 p.m. local time.（ANTARA）

Indonesian Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto handed over 1,000 rapid test kits to Wisma Atlet Emergency Hospital (RSD) for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) treatment in Kemayoran, here, on Saturday.

"The Indonesian Minister of Health Terawan handed over a three-strip rapid test kits for handling COVID-19 patients, because the rapid test tool currently being used in Wisma Atlet Hospital has only two strips," Head of the Indonesian Military's Health Center Major General Dr. Bambang Dwi Hasto, said in a statement.

During his visit, Terawan also reviewed the readiness of the emergency hospital's Tower IV, Tower V, and Tower VI which have been converted into facilities to treat patients infected with COVID-19.

Currently, only Tower VII is fully in operational, while other towers are being prepared to anticipate in case the number of inpatients increases.

On early Sunday, the emergency hospital treated a total of 840 inpatients, rising 16 from 824 inpatients on the previous day.

They comprised 508 men and 332 women. Of the total, 723 patients tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease, 57 patients under surveillance (PDP), and 60 under monitoring (ODP), Yudo Margono, head of the emergency hospital, said in a statement here on Sunday.

The number of confirmed cases at the hospital increased by 22 to reach 723, from 701 on Saturday, he remarked.

The number of PDP cases decreased by seven people, from 64 to reach 57, while ODP cases increased by one person, from 59 to 60 patients.

The Kemayoran Athlete's Village was converted into an emergency hospital and officially inaugurated by President Joko Widodo on March 23. The hospital has a total capacity to accommodate 12 thousand people.

Meanwhile, Government Spokesperson for COVID-19 Response Achmad Yurianto reported that patients recovering from COVID-19 rose by 40 to reach 1,042, while confirmed cases touched 8,607 across Indonesia as of noon of April 25, 2020.(ANTARA)

State-owned enterprise airline Garuda Indonesia halts its flights operating in eight areas across Indonesia enacting the Large-Scale Social Distancing (PSBB) measure over concerns of coronavirus transmission, effective from April 25.

This is a measure adopted in compliance with the Ministry of Transportation's regulation on preventing Muslims from partaking in the exodus during the Ramadhan season in order to restrict people’s movements, as it is expected to contain the spread of COVID-19.
In accordance with the rules, domestic flights should be temporarily halted over some areas implementing PSBB or those demarcated as red zones of the disease from April 24 through May 31.

Taking into account that today is a period for disseminating information, Garuda Indonesia is still operating flights with no such exception in the areas covered until midnight, the airline's President Director, Irfan Setiaputra, noted in a statement issued on Friday, April 24

"Thus, starting from tomorrow, Saturday, April 25, at 12 a.m. local time, Garuda Indonesia will not operate flights on domestic routes linked to all areas with the PSBB status or the red zones of COVID-19," Setiaputra clarified.

"As per today, eight areas enacting PSBB are Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Pekanbaru, Makassar, region of West Sumatra, Banjarmasin, and Tarakan," he noted, adding that Garuda Indonesia will cover other areas as usual.

The airline has ensured to waive administrative fee for the flight adjustment processes of rerouting and rescheduling as well as providing airplane vouchers aligned with the regulations. (ANTARA)