VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Archive photo — A healthcare worker tests a resident for COVID-19 in Surabaya, East Java on Thursday. (ANTARA FOTO/Didik Suhartono/rwa) - 

Indonesia’s daily coronavirus cases climbed by 21,095 on Saturday, taking the total number of cases recorded since the start of the pandemic in March, 2020 to 2,093,962, the Task Force for COVID-19 Response reported.

Jakarta added the highest number of daily cases at 9,271, followed by West Java (3,787), Central Java (2,305), East Java (989), and Yogyakarta (782).

Only North Kalimantan reported no new cases.

With 7,396 people recovering from COVID-19 on Saturday, the number of recoveries reached 1,842,457. The highest number of recoveries were recorded in Jakarta at 2,725, followed by West Java (1,196), East Java (578), Central Java (569), and West Sumatra (357).

The number of patients dying of COVID-19 reached 358 in the 24 hours ended 12 p.m. local time on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 56,729.

Meanwhile, the number of active cases, or patients receiving treatment and conducting self-isolation, rose by 13,341 to reach 194,776.

Cumulatively, the highest number of COVID-19 cases were recorded in Jakarta at 510,667, followed by West Java (364,315), Central Java (244,241), East Java (168,795), and East Kalimantan (75,412).

Jakarta also recorded the highest number of recoveries at 450,746, followed by West Java (318,595), Central Java (201,931), East Java (149,351), and East Kalimantan (71,025)//ANT

People queue up to get vaccinated against COVID-19 at Gelora Bung Karno Sports Stadium in Jakarta on Saturday (June 26, 2021). (ANTARA FOTO/Galih Pradipta/wsj) - 

As many as 105,901 Indonesians received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday, taking the number of fully vaccinated people to 13,018,524.

Meanwhile, the number of people receiving their first COVID-19 dose rose by 550,095 to reach 26,032,131 as of Saturday.

The government is planning to vaccinate 40,349,049 people in the first and second phases of the national vaccination program. The targeted vaccine recipients include healthcare workers, public service officers, and senior citizens.

Overall, the government is seeking to vaccinate 181.5 million citizens, or 70 percent of the country's population, to create herd immunity against the virus.

The vaccination program has been expanded to cover residents aged 18 years and above across the country.

To speed up vaccinations, the government has been working to expand the capacity of vaccination services.

Indonesia has recorded 2,093,962 COVID-19 cases since detecting the first confirmed cases in March, 2020. Of the total patients, 1,842,457 have recovered from COVID-19, while 56,729 have succumbed to the infection//ANT

Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration, Abdul Halim Iskandar, giving a speech during his visit to Wedani village, Cerme district, Gresik Regency, East Java on Saturday. (ANTARA/HO-Aries) - 

Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Abdul Halim Iskandar has asked villages to think beyond tourism and focus on making good quality and a greater variety of indigenous products. 

"It is not necessary for all villages to create tourist villages. However, they can be more varied in making superior products, for example, this Wedani woven fabric product," he said while visiting Wedani village here on Saturday.

He said his observation was based on the availability of superior products in the village, including woven handicraft products that could penetrate the export market.

"As the detection of poverty in the village is easy to do. So poverty alleviation could be carried out on target," Iskandar observed.

"Along with the Village SDGs target, whose goal is to realize village independence, Wedani has been working on this target (poverty alleviation),” he said during a limited dialogue on industrial synergy and village local potential held by the Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) of Gresik district.

The minister emphasized that village independence is aimed at eliminating poverty at the village level.

He said he hoped that the success of Wedani village would serve as a model for other villages, so that village economic diversification can be realized.

Meanwhile, Gresik Regent Fandi Akhmad Yani, who accompanied the minister during his visit, said that his region is currently focusing on developing the village’s micro economy through the development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The regent then described the potential for developing MSMEs and producing many superior products in Gresik Regency.

"In addition to Wedani weaving, which has penetrated exports, there is also potential in milkfish fisheries, with a turnover value up to more than Rp1 trillion a year. This will increase people's economy who have been hit hard during this pandemic," he pointed out.

The region will strengthen the MSMEs sector with regulations that would make it easier to operate businesses, the regent said.

"Together with the Gresik DPRD, we are committed to simplifying the licensing process, opening access to capital and markets," he added//ANT

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhadjir Effendy (June 25, 2021). (ANTARA/HO-Humas Menko PMK) - 

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhadjir Effendy, has said the government must focus on accelerating the production of indigenous vaccines for inoculating pregnant women, toddlers, and children amid a spike in COVID-19 cases.

"To anticipate unwanted possibilities in vaccine procurement, I suggest that we should focus more on accelerating national vaccine production," he said in a written statement received here on Saturday.

Based on data issued by the Ministry of Health, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among pregnant women have so far reached 35,099, while 24,591 infections have been recorded among newborns aged 0-12 months.

In response, the government has decided to accelerate the vaccination program for pregnant women, toddlers, and children, the minister informed.

Vaccinations could prevent transmission and reduce the rates of COVID-19 cases and fatality, he added.

The acceleration of the vaccination program is necessary and vaccine procurement should also prioritize indigenous vaccines, he said.

"How can this national production vaccine be materialized immediately so that we do not (have to) depend on the international market?” he asked.

The current situation in the global vaccine market is highly uncertain, he noted. Meanwhile, cases of COVID-19 are continuing to rise due to the presence of new and more infectious variants, he pointed out.

Citing the example of America, he said the country has managed to implement large-scale vaccinations as it has been able to produce COVID-19 vaccines and thereby, ensure abundant stocks.

Effendy said he is optimistic that Indonesia will be able to produce its own vaccines to help the government achieve its target of building herd immunity against COVID-19 by the end of 2021//ANT