VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

1,100 employees of services sector in Tanjungpinang get inoculated

Some 1,100 employees of services sector and tourism stakeholders in Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands Province, have received the first shots of AstraZeneca vaccine, Tanjungpinang Mayor Rahma said.

“We keep moving with the vaccination program,” she said in a press statement that ANTARA quoted in Tanjungpinang, the capital of Riau Islands Province, on Sunday.

Rahma said she was happy to see the enthusiasm of the city’s residents in joining the government’s vaccination program amid the government’s endeavors to revive the country’s economy.

“Thank you for your active participation in the vaccination program. This indicates that we are all keen to be free from the novel coronavirus pandemic,” she said.

For those who have been vaccinated, they must still abide to the strict rules of health protocols, such as wearing face mask, washing hands, and maintaining physical distancing measure, she added.Indonesia remains in grip of the global pandemic of COVID-19 that has severely hit its economy but the government is striving to win the fight against it through a national vaccination program.

According to the Health Ministry, it will take about 15 months to vaccinate about 181.5 million people under the national program.

"We need 15 months to accomplish it. The time-frame for conducting the vaccination is counted from January, 2021 to March, 2022," Health Ministry's spokesperson for the vaccination program, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, stated recently.

During the period, the government is targeting to inoculate about 181.5 million people, including 1.3 million paramedics and 17.4 million public sector workers in 34 provinces, she informed.

Tarmizi noted that the first phase of the government's immunization program has been divided into two periods: January-April 2021 and April 2021-March 2022.

This coronavirus pandemic has severely hit the country’s economy. In reviving the tourism sector, for instance, the Indonesian government has planned a travel bubble.In the first stage of its implementation, the travel bubble between Indonesia and Singapore will initially run between Singapore and Bintan, Riau Islands//ANT

Vaccination campaign key for revival of Bali's tourism industry - Birkom Kemenparekraf

The COVID-19 pandemic has dragged Indonesia into serious public health and economic crises, like many other countries in the world.

Tourism has been the worst affected by the impact of the pandemic, and the tourism industry of Bali, one of the world's most famous tourist resorts, has been especially hit hard by COVID-19.

Since the country recorded its first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020, the Indonesian government has been determined to win the battle against COVID-19. From January 13 this year, the government has rolled out a nationwide vaccination program to arrest the spread of infections.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) reviewed the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Gianyar and Denpasar, Bali province on March 16, 2021, and said he was optimistic that bringing the coronavirus infection under control would help revive the island's tourism industry around the middle of this year.

Accompanied by Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Tourism and Creative Economic Minister Sandiaga Uno, and Bali Governor Wayan Koster, Widodo held dialogs with Balinese religious and community leaders as well as frontline public servants to ensure that the vaccination program is implemented properly and successfully as it is key for the revival of tourism.The Balinese people must remain optimistic, as "hope is on the way”, he said. The economy in Bali is expected to recover soon amid the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination program, he added.

He also spoke of the reopening of three COVID-19 green zones in Bali for tourism amid a marked decrease in the number of daily coronavirus cases nationwide.

"I see that in the province of Bali, we want to concentrate on three designated green zones, specifically Ubud, Sanur, and Nusa Dua. We are optimistic of these becoming green zones, green areas that we can fully open to tourists," he remarked.

The Bali authorities have so far administered COVID-19 vaccines to tourist industry players, religious leaders, and cultural and youth representatives, among others, the President noted.

"Hence, later, they (tourists) will feel safe and comfortable staying in Bali. With our focus on these three zones, revival of the tourism sector in Bali province will start," he added.

In addition to the vaccination program, a strict and disciplined implementation of health protocols is a must in Bali, according to Minister Uno.Earlier, in February this year, Uno had met with the Bali Governor to highlight the importance of vaccinating 1.2 million tourism-related workers in Bali to boost public trust in the resort island.

"We pray for Bali's immediate recovery. If the tourism sector revives, the economy will get back on track. Speaking of Indonesia's tourism, it will never be separated from Bali," he remarked.Uno, during an online dialog on ‘Vaccination Comes, Tourism Shines’ on March 1 this year, unveiled a plan to reopen Bali and other destinations for tourists through the Free COVID Corridor Program.

The government is making sure to exercise caution as it examines the possibility of reopening green zones, or areas with the lowest risk of COVID-19 transmission, he said.

The plan for the designation of green zones in Bali includes Nusa Dua and Ubud, and can be expanded to cover Nusa Penida and several other areas to align with the local government's directives, he stated.

"We want to get more ready in line with the downward trend of COVID-19 cases, particularly in Bali. We are mulling over reopening green zones for tourists from several countries, such as China, Singapore, and other countries," he revealed.The minister spoke of having invited several ambassadors to personally bear witness to the government's preparedness to open tourist destinations in Bali and other regions.

However, Uno noted that the plan to reopen the tourist destinations will hinge largely on endeavors to handle the COVID-19 pandemic in Bali.

Tourism industry players have lauded the government’s plan to reopen Bali island to international tourists by the middle of this year, offering a much-needed lifeline to beleaguered tourism businesses and operators.Besides, to maintain tourism sustainability, he hoped the government would roll out stimulus or incentives, especially for tourist agencies to help them restart operations that have been halted for over a year. Such stimulus measures, he said, can be in the form of a soft loan for capital, marketing cost incentives, relaxation for foreign tourists who come to Indonesia, and tourism grants//ANT

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif (center) at a press briefing in Indramayu, West Java, on Saturday (April 3, 2021). (ANTARA/Khaerul Izan)

State-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina, in cooperation with an international agency, is investigating the cause of a fire that engulfed the company's refinery in Balongan, Indramayu district, West Java, early this week.

The international agency is expected to reveal what happened at the oil refinery and what led to the fire at its four storage units, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif informed here on Saturday.

"We also want (the results of the) study from the international agency which handles occupational accidents like (the one that happened) now," he said.Looking ahead, Pertamina must assess and evaluate its current working system applied to all its oil refineries, he added.

The evaluation is needed to prevent similar incidents from happening at the company's oil refineries in future, he said adding, the fire must serve as a lesson for Pertamina.

The minister had said earlier that the fire that engulfed Pertamina's refinery had been fully extinguished, and the company was conducting a cooling down process.

"Alhamdulillah (thank God), the fire has been put out," Tasrif remarked, here on Saturday.According to the minister, the fire initially erupted shortly after midnight on Monday (March 29, 2021) and was put out in all four affected storage units on Wednesday (March 31, 2021). However, hours later, the fire re-surfaced in the units, he informed.

The fire broke out for the second time when the remaining hot oil came in direct contact with the air, Tasrif explained.

The fire forced Pertamina to shut the plant and evacuate about 950 nearby residents. Six were offered treatment at the hospital, the company informed.According to the company, seven percent of the refinery's 1.35 million kiloliters (KL) of storage capacity was affected by the fire, and the tanks that caught fire were holding some 23 thousand KL of gasoline.

However, it assured that national fuel stocks remained secure, and any shortage of fuel to Jakarta, which Balongan supplies, could be made up by refineries in Cilacap and Tuban//ANT

Passengers undergo a COVID-19 inspection procedure using GeNose C-19 at the New Lobby of Terminal 1 Juanda International Airport in Sidoarjo of East Java on Thursday (4/1/2021). (ANTARA FOTO/Umarul Faruq/hp)

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Indonesia on Saturday at 12 a.m. local time dropped by 943 from the previous day to reach a total of 120,068 cases, according to the Health Ministry's data.

Data on the active cases of COVID-19 indicates the number of COVID-19 patients still undergoing treatment and those in self-quarantine.

The Health Ministry's data also found that the cumulative count of individuals confirmed to have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus on Saturday increased by 4,345 to reach a total of 1,527,524 people.  

DKI Jakarta reported the highest number of additional daily cases, reaching 1,098, followed by 910 additional cases in Banten, and an additional 360 cases in West Java.

The number of COVID-19 patients that recovered on Saturday reached 1,366,214, an increase of 5,197 individuals as compared to the figure on Friday.

The highest rise in the number of recoveries from COVID-19 was recorded in Banten Province, with 1,553 people, followed by 1,283 recoveries in DKI Jakarta, and 389 people in West Java.The number of active COVID-19 cases in Indonesia on Saturday at 12 a.m. local time dropped by 943 from the previous day to reach a total of 120,068 cases, according to the Health Ministry's data.

Data on the active cases of COVID-19 indicates the number of COVID-19 patients still undergoing treatment and those in self-quarantine.

The Health Ministry's data also found that the cumulative count of individuals confirmed to have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus on Saturday increased by 4,345 to reach a total of 1,527,524 people.  

DKI Jakarta reported the highest number of additional daily cases, reaching 1,098, followed by 910 additional cases in Banten, and an additional 360 cases in West Java.

The number of COVID-19 patients that recovered on Saturday reached 1,366,214, an increase of 5,197 individuals as compared to the figure on Friday.

The highest rise in the number of recoveries from COVID-19 was recorded in Banten Province, with 1,553 people, followed by 1,283 recoveries in DKI Jakarta, and 389 people in West Java.Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients succumbing to the disease on Saturday increased by 91, from 40,754 deaths recorded on Friday.

The maximum additional cases of deaths due to COVID-19 came from East Java, reaching 18; followed by 15 in Banten; and 10 in East Kalimantan.

The COVID-19 Handling Task Force has urged the public to apply health protocols to avoid transmission of the coronavirus disease by adopting a disciplined approach in implementing 5M by wearing masks, washing hands with soap, maintaining distance, staying away from crowds, and reducing mobility//ANT