VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Bangkok to close schools for two weeks as number of COVID-19 cases rise - Bangkok Post

The Thai capital of Bangkok will close all schools for two weeks after the New Year holiday as it tightens measures to control a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the city said on Friday. Thailand confirmed 279 new coronavirus cases on Friday, with the majority of them linked to a cluster among migrant workers in Samut Sakhon province south of Bangkok, and another cluster linked to illegal gambling dens that started in the eastern province of Rayong. These new clusters have started to spread into Bangkok, prompting the city's administrator to tighten measures to curb the spread of the virus. 

"We begin to detect new cases linked to students and other service businesses," said Pongsakorn Kwanmuang, the spokesman for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

"Therefore we decided to close more places," he said. All schools, daycare centers for the young and elderly, preschool and tutorial centers will be close from Jan.4 to 17 while other public facilities including amusement parks, playgrounds, public baths and massage parlors will be closed starting from Saturday, he said. 

Pongsakorn also said the city is considering restrictions on eating-in at restaurants but said that more discussions were needed with the government COVID-19 taskforce on Saturday. Thailand recorded two new deaths from coronavirus on Friday, taking the total number of infections to 7,163 and the number of deaths to 63 since the outbreak started last January. The majority of the new cases resulted from local transmission of the disease while six were imported from abroad, the government COVID-19 taskforce said//JP

Medical workers, volunteers and patients do morning exercise at the COVID-19 quarantine house in Tangerang District, Banten. (ANTARA) 

The Task Force for COVID-19 Response has targeted to raise the COVID-19 recovery rate for COVID-19 patients in Indonesia to nearly 100 percent in 2021. 

"We must achieve the recovery rate target of 100 percent and lower the mortality rate," spokesman for the Task Force for COVID-19 Response Prof. Wiku Adisasmito noted in the task force's press statement released on Friday.

Adisasmito remarked that the active cases, recovery rate, and mortality rate are the indicators of achievement to contain the transmission of COVID-19. Indonesia recorded 735,124 COVID cases as of December 30, 2020, with 603,741 patients, or 82.12 percent, recovering from the COVID-19; and 21,944 patients, or 2.9 percent, succumbing to the infection. According to the task force, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Indonesia varied from one district or city to another. However, the number of active COVID-19 cases in 27 districts and cities elicits attention since the figure has exceeded one thousand.

Adisasmito remarked that the map of coronavirus transmission risks showed 44 districts and cities are categorized as orange zones, or areas with a moderate risk of COVID-19 transmission in 16 consecutive weeks, starting from September 6 to December 27, 2020. However, 16 districts and cities were categorized as red zones, or areas with a high risk of COVID-19 transmission in six consecutive months over the course of time. 

"We hope in the first month of 2021, or January 2021, we would be able to make breakthroughs to turn the zones into green zones. We have learnt much for 10 months, so there is nothing.

President Joko Widodo had stated in early November 2020 that the recovery rate for COVID-19 patients in Indonesia has increased to 82.84 percent, which is higher than the global average of 72 percent. Moreover, the country’s COVID-19 case rate currently stands at 13.78 percent, which is lower than the global average of 25.22 percent, Widodo informed while chairing a plenary cabinet meeting here in early November of 2020//ANT

TNI clean up Kuta's Beach Bali - Antara

Sailors from the Denpasar Naval Base on Friday partook in the efforts to conduct a coastal clean-up drive on the Indonesian island of Bali's Kuta Beach strewn with marine debris since December 30, 2020.

"We all must start this clean-up effort," Denpasar Naval Base Commander, Colonel Ketut Budiantara, informed journalists on the sidelines of the clean-up mission.

The marine litter washing ashore this popular beach was a matter of serious concern since it not only made it appear unsightly but it could also harm coastal wildlife, he remarked. Budiantara cautioned that if the marine debris had drifted until a dock's area, it could also disrupt vessel traffic. He then appealed to local residents and tourists to keep the Kuta Beach clean. The clean-up effort was supported by a coastguard of Kuta Beach named Wayan Suadi, who stated that driftwood was harmful to those surfing at sea.

With the support of local government officials, boy scouts, police officers, and soldiers, the beach was cleared of some 30 tons of marine debris. Most of the trash was plastic waste. Head of the Environment Office at the Badung District Government I Wayan Puja drew attention to the annual problem of a mountain of trash drifting from the sea before washing ashore Kuta Beach. The marine litter, dominated by plastic waste, had turned out to be a major problem for the resort island of Bali's beaches and sea//ANT

Sinova vaccine arrival in Indonesia (yahoo Singapore)

Indonesia has just received its "year-end present" with an additional 1.8 million doses of Sinovac vaccine landing in Jakarta on the very last day of 2020. The archipelagic nation had received the first consignment of 1.2 million doses from Sinovac earlier in December, 2020. Speaking at an online press briefing one day before the latest consignment arrived, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, had said that Indonesia's diplomacy is working to open the access for vaccine collaboration with all countries as well as mechanisms.

"I repeat, (we are seeking cooperation) with any parties, whether through bilateral track or multilateral, for vaccine procurement," Marsudi remarked."I could say that Indonesia has become one of a handful of countries which have secured vaccines for domestic needs,” she said.

“However, at the same time, aligned with the principle of equal access of vaccines for all the nations, as well as the manifested responsibility of Indonesia to the world, Indonesia contributes through CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) for global procurement,” she added. Marsudi has on many other occasions voiced the urgent need to achieve both "vaccine nationalism" and "vaccine globalism”, citing the terms floated by senior Indonesian diplomat Dino Patti Djalal.

"Vaccine is certain to be a diplomatic, political, economic, and logistical challenge. Just like COVID-19 has been the most political virus ever, the vaccine will also be political," Djalal said in the year-end-statement of his think-tank, the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia.

He projected that through this second year of COVID-19 pandemic, there would be a strong impulse for "vaccine nationalism”.

“But, the real test of international solidarity is in the realm of vaccine cooperation. And the good news is that 'vaccine globalism' is becoming a much stronger politically correct norm,” Djalal added.

During a meeting in Geneva with the CEO of Gavi The Vaccine Alliance, a co-initiator of the COVAX facility along with the World Health Organization (WHO) and CEPI, Indonesia directly and officially submitted a letter of interest to join COVAX AMC (Advanced Market Commitment)//ANT