VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Seger Beach in Mandalika Special Economic Zone - 

A picturesque beach in the Mandalika Special Economic Zone of Kuta Village in Pujut Sub-district, Central Lombok District, West Nusa Tenggara Province, has started to garner some crowds during this year's Christmas holiday.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, local tourists from various parts of Lombok Island were seen mingling at Kuta Beach on Sunday. They came to the tourist destination by motorcycles and cars.

Traffic from Praya City to Mandalika SEZ was, however, running well. There  was no traffic congestion, and the sky also looked good as it was sunny and cloudy.

Several tourists were seen taking selfies with the sign of 'Kuta Mandalika' as the background while many others were bathing on the white-sand beach.

One of the visitors, Eny from Praya City, said that she and her friends had come on vacation to the SEZ to see the beauty of Kuta Beach.

"We want to take a vacation as it is Sunday,"she said.

Eny and her friends chose Kuta Beach as destination for their vacation because of its short distance to their home. It only took them 30 minutes to come and see the panoramic beauty of Kuta beach firsthand.

"Besides (the destination) being close, it's also fun to go on vacation to the beach, and (we) can play in the water, and see the Mandalika Circuit," they said.

The Central Lombok Police Chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Hery Indra Cahyono stated that all tourist attractions in the area would be monitored and secured by the police during the year end holidays in order to anticipate the emergence of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

"The security is (meant) to oversee the adherence to COVID-19 health protocol," Cahyono added.

In addition to guarding tourist attractions, his administrations and some more officers would also be dispatched to regulate the traffic and guard churches in Praya.

During the Christmas and New Year holidays, there would be a possible increase of travel, particularly to tourist attractions. To prevent crowds, surveillance would still be imposed, he said, adding that some 150 personnel would be deployed to secure the places.

They would be assisted by the personnel of national defense force, public order officer, and the Transportation Office, he said.

He also expected that the public will continue to comply with the COVID-19 health protocols by wearing masks, washing their hands, and keeping themselves at proper distance. Those measures were to anticipate a spike in new cases of COVID-19 in Central Lombok.

"We urge the residents not to visit tourist attractions during the Christmas and New Year holiday season," he said//ANT

Free health care service for people in Papua. ANTARA Papua/HO-Pendam XVII - 

Several army doctors and students of the Cenderawasih University's Medical School have jointly provided residents of Koya Tengah Village in Muara Tami Sub-district, Jayapura City, with health care service.

The doctors who involved in the community service for the villagers near the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea land border area belong to the army medical corps of the Indonesia-PNG Border Security Task Force's 711/Rks Infantry Battalion.

The health care service was conducted by the army doctors and students at the village's integrated health services post (Posyandu), 2nd Lieutenant dr.I Kadek Raditya Arya, member of the army medical corps, said.

The community service has shown their care for the residents near the Indonesia-PNG border area, including the elderly people, Arya said in a press statement that ANTARA received here Sunday.

"Our medical personnel are always ready to serve those in need of health care service at our task force' post. We also visit their houses to give them free medical treatment," Arya said.

The collaboration with the Cenderawasih University's Medical School students could hopefully improve the health of residents near the Indonesia-PNG land border area, Arya said.

Meanwhile, dr Agnes S.Rahayu who represented the Cenderawasih University's Medical School said locals received such services as medical check-up, and cholesterol test during the community service program.

"The participating doctors directly respond to residents in need of health consultations," she said, adding that they showed enthusiasm in receiving the free health care service.

Rahayu thanked members of the task force's army medical corps who had served the residents living near the Indonesia-PNG border area along with the medical school students.

ANTARA reported earlier that sharing land and sea borders with PNG, Papua and West Papua's geopolitical and geostrategic positions are indubitably important for Indonesia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Over the past few years, soldiers stationed in these two eastern provinces have been facing security threats posed by armed Papuan separatist terrorist groups operating in several districts.

Amid these security-related challenges, the soldiers continue to demonstrate their care for local communities through community services.

Several personnel of the Indonesia-PNG Border Security Task Force, for instance, assist locals through community services, such as conducting voluntary teaching, serving mobile library, and implementing street clean-up programs.

During his visit to Jayapura, Papua Province, on December 1, 2021, TNI Commander General Andika Perkasa had pledged to lay emphasis on "social communication" to deal with Papuan groups that continue to threaten the lives of civilians and security personnel in Papua//ANT

A student answers screening questions before vaccination in Palu, Central Sulawesi. ANTARA/Basri Marzuki - 

The Government of Palu City, Central Sulawesi Province, informed that the city’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has reached 78.43 percent as of December 24, 2021.

“This achievement has surpassed the central government's 70 percent coverage target. Palu government will strive to boost the percentage until the end of this year,” Head of the Surveillance Team of the Palu City Health Office Rochmat Jasin said when contacted here on Saturday.

Jasin noted that the city’s vaccination achievement must be increased to reach 80 percent coverage at least by December 31, 2021.

According to the Health Office data, Palu city is targeting to vaccinate as many as 265,462 residents. As of December 24, 208,215 residents or 78.43 target recipients have been immunized with the first dose.

Meanwhile, the number of residents that have been fully vaccinated has reached 141,511 recipients, or 53.31 percent of the target.

“Especially health workers that have received the third injection are around 2,818 people or 50.37 percent (of the target),” he added.

Even though Palu has reached the central government's target, the city has not achieved herd immunity yet since its vaccination drive has not reached 80 percent coverage, Jasin noted.

To boost immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021. President Joko Widodo was the first vaccine recipient under the program.

According to data provided by the Health Ministry, as of December 25, 2021, nearly 156,442,094 citizens had received their first COVID-19 shot, while 110,515,868 had been fully vaccinated against the virus.

The government recently started inoculating children aged 6–11 against COVID-19. The program is targeting 26.5 million children across Indonesia//ANT

A Palestinian woman wearing on a protective face mask speaks on her phone as she stands next to a coronavirus-themed mural in Gaza City on Nov 22, 2020. (File photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem) - 

The Palestinian health ministry said on Sunday (Dec 26) it had identified the first case of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the Gaza Strip.

The carrier is a Gaza resident who was infected within the coastal territory, ministry official Majdi Dhair told a news conference.

Dhair said this meant the variant, first identified in southern Africa and Hong Kong last month, existed in Gaza and was now spreading among the population. The discovery poses a new challenge to the enclave's under-developed health system.

"We are ahead of difficult days. It is expected that the Omicron variant will spread fast," he told reporters.

Gaza, with a population of 2.2 million people, has registered 189,837 COVID-19 infections and 1,691 deaths.

Dhair urged Gazans to get vaccinated, putting the percentage of those who had already received shots at around 40 per cent.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, three cases of Omicron variant had been detected among Palestinians on Dec 16 and the number had since risen to 23 among the 3.1 million population, Palestinian health authorities said//CNA