VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Police stand guard near the private residence of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise after he was shot dead by gunmen with assault rifles, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Jul 7, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Estailove St-Val) - 

Haiti has asked Washington and the United Nations to send troops to help it secure its ports, airport and other strategic sites after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, a government minister said on Friday (Jul 9).

The United States has already said it will send the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other agents to Port-au-Prince, two days after Moise was brutally killed by gunmen in his home, opening up a power vacuum in the impoverished and crisis-hit Caribbean nation.

In the wake of the slaying, "we thought that the mercenaries could destroy some infrastructure to create chaos in the country. During a conversation with the US Secretary of State and the UN we made this request", elections minister Mathias Pierre told AFP.

The US State Department and Pentagon both confirmed receiving a request for "security and investigative assistance" and said officials remain in contact with Port-au-Prince, but did not specify whether military troops would be deployed.

The UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Washington had signalled its willingness to help the Haitian investigation, and White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki added on Friday that senior FBI and other officials would be heading to the Caribbean as soon as possible.

Pierre confirmed that the request had been made as questions swirled on Friday about who could have masterminded the audacious assassination, with most members of a hit squad of Colombians and Americans either dead or in custody, and no clear motive made public.

Amid the uncertainty, two men are now vying to lead the country of 11 million people, more than half of whom are under age 20. There is no working parliament.

After days of paralysis in the capital, Port-au-Prince saw the timid return of people to the streets, shops opening and the resumption of public transport on Friday morning - but under a pall of apprehension.

People scrambled to stock up on basic necessities at supermarkets and lined up at gas stations to buy propane used for cooking in anticipation of more instability.

"I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow or the day after in the country, so I am preparing for bad days ahead," Port-au-Prince resident Marjory told AFP, as she and her husband stocked up on supplies at a store.

"I'm prioritising everything that can last for many days."

Gang violence, rife in the Caribbean nation, also picked up again on Friday, with clashes between groups paralysing traffic on a major highway.

The city's airport, shuttered in the wake of the attack, appeared to have reopened, according to Flightradar data//CNA

A man walks under a public health message about social distancing displayed at a shopping plaza in the city centre in Sydney, Australia, Jul 6, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Loren Elliott) - 

Australia's New South Wales state reported its biggest daily rise in locally acquired coronavirus infections this year on Saturday (Jul 10), with authorities warning that worse may yet to come for Sydney, which is in a three-week hard lockdown.

There were 50 new cases of community transmission in the country's most populous state, up from 44 a day earlier, the previous record high for the year. This brings the outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant to 489 cases.

"When you know that there are 26 cases infectious in the community, the only conclusion we can draw is that things are going to get worse before they get better," state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told a televised briefing.

"I think it is pretty clear that unless we reduce that level of people in the community that are infectious, we won't be able to turn things around as quickly as we can or as quickly as we should."

Vaccinations are available in Australia for now only to people above the age of 40 and those in risk groups either due to their health or work.

The country has fared much better than many other developed countries in keeping its COVID-19 numbers relatively low, but its vaccination roll-out has been among the slowest due to supply constraints and changing medical advice for its mainstay AstraZeneca shots//CNA

Spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccinations for the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, at an online press conference in Jakarta on Friday (July 9, 2021). (ANTARA/Prisca Triferna) - 

The Indonesian government is working to increase the production of medical oxygen and ensure the availability of coronavirus drugs, spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccinations for the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said.

"We have received a commitment from the Ministry of Industry so that the conversion of industrial gas to medical oxygen is given up to 90 percent," she said at a press conference on the implementation of emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM) in Jakarta on Friday.

The oxygen production capacity in Indonesia is 866 thousand tons per year, with annual production utilization pegged at 638,900 tons, of which 75 percent is used by industry and only 25 percent is used for medical purposes, she pointed out.

Through the conversion of industrial oxygen for medical use, the amount of oxygen that can be obtained to meet national needs is 575 thousands tons, Tarmizi said.

For now, the existing oxygen capacity will be maximized in seven provinces in Java-Bali due to the increase in COVID-19 cases by 6-8 times in the areas, she added.

Based on data from the Ministry of Health, currently the total need for oxygen for intensive care and isolation of COVID-19 patients has reached 1,928 tons/day, while the available capacity is 2,262 tons/day.

Thus, it is targeted that the Java-Bali region can be supplied 2,262 tons of oxygen per day, Tarmizi said.

The need for medical grade oxygen has soared with the increase in COVID-19 cases, she added.

The scarcity of oxygen in some areas is more due to the distribution chain that is not yet optimal, she disclosed.

The government's strategy to overcome this problem is to increase the supply of oxygen and strive for faster distribution to areas with high cases, she said.

In addition to meeting oxygen needs through domestic industries, the government has received assistance from the governments of Singapore, Australia, and China in the form of ventilators, empty oxygen cylinders, and oxygen concentrators, she added.

The Indonesian government is also working to ensure the availability of COVID-19 therapeutic drugs and is continuing to coordinate with the pharmaceutical industry to scale up production, the spokesperson said.

The Ministry of Health is regularly coordinating with the pharmaceutical industry and its distribution networks to monitor the availability of drugs for handling COVID-19, in accordance with the 3rd edition of COVID-19 management guidelines, published in December, 2020, she informed.

"In the event of a supply bottleneck for imports from abroad, the Ministry of Health coordinates with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant ministries to help resolve the supply bottleneck," she said.

The availability of drugs related to COVID-19 in the pharmaceutical industry and wholesalers as of July 9, 2021 stands at 3.2 million favipiravir units, 11 thousand remdesivir injections, 157 thousand oseltamivir units, 2.4 million oral azithromycin units, 163 thousand azithromycin infusion units, 543 tocilizumab infusion units, 7 thousand intravenous immunoglobulin units, and 237 thousand ivermectin units, she disclosed.

According to Tarmizi, the availability of medicines for COVID-19 is constantly being increased and their production is being boosted to ensure their availability on the field.

The Ministry of Health has also reviewed the increase in drug prices and has issued a Minister of Health Decree Number HK.07.07/Menkes/4826/2021 to regulate the highest retail price (HET) for drugs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

"Let us collaborate with each other and support each other. People also must not panic by buying excessively both drugs and other infrastructure in order to maintain a balance and availability of drugs, especially for those in need," she added//ANT

A medical worker treats a COVID-19 patient at a drop zone in an emergency unit of Dr Soedono General Hospital in Madiun, East Java. (Antara/HO-Diskominfo Kota Madiun/ Lr) - 

The Indonesian government has paid Rp10.6 trillion towards the settlement of medical bills of COVID-19 patients as of June 30, 2021, a Finance Ministry official has said.

The amount disbursed has reached 100 percent of the first phase ceiling for this year, chief of the fiscal policy board at the Finance Ministry, Febrio Kacaribu, disclosed at an online discussion in Jakarta on Friday.

"The settlement of claims (from hospitals) for COVID-19 patients has been improved so it can be done more quickly," he said.

The mechanism for settling claims and disputes has been improved through the Health Minister's Decree No. HK.01.07/MENKES/4718/2021 concerning technical guide to reimbursing the treatment expenses of COVID-19 patients at COVID-19 hospitals, he added.

To clear hospital bills of COVID-19 patients in the second phase, the government needs Rp11.97 trillion, Kacaribu said.

The arrears of the 2020 medical bills for COVID-19 patients, amounting to Rp5.6 trillion, have been settled this year, he informed.

The claims and disputes settlement team will aid the settlement of the second tranche of last year's arrears of COVID-19 patients' medical bills, amounting to Rp2.69 trillion, he said.

The 2020 arrears of incentives and compensations for 200,506 medical workers have been pegged at Rp1.34 trillion, or 90.8 percent, based on an assessment by the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP). 

The incentives awarded to 323,486 medical workers this year amounted to Rp2.6 trillion, while death compensation for 166 medical workers reached Rp49.8 billion, Kacaribu said//ANT