VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

FILE PHOTO: An ambulance drives outside a hospital for patients infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov - 

Russia will ease some of its COVID-19 restrictions from Sunday (Feb 6), the consumer health watchdog announced on Saturday, despite reporting a record daily number of cases as the Omicron variant spreads across the country.

The number of daily infections has been surging since January. But the highly transmissible Omicron variant has not led to a significant increase in deaths, and the Kremlin has recently dismissed concerns about the risk of new lockdowns.

According to the latest order from the consumer health watchdog, from Sunday people will no longer need to self-isolate after contacting those infected with COVID-19.

In Moscow, schools and nurseries may end isolation requirements for pupils from next week, the capital's coronavirus task force said.

Earlier this week, Anna Popova, the head of the watchdog, said that some of the restrictions no longer made sense as the Omicron variant was spreading too fast. Up to 20 per cent of infected people in Russia and 40per cent of people in Moscow have no symptoms.

The order to lift quarantine restrictions comes as new daily cases in Russia jumped to 177,282 on Saturday, from 168,201 a day earlier, and compared with less than 16,000 a day that Russia reported a month ago, the government coronavirus task force said.

It also reported 714 deaths in the past 24 hours, down from all-time high levels above 1,200 recorded in November//CNA

Discussion on Presidential Regulation Number 2 of 2022 on National Entrepreneurship Development. (ANTARA/HO-Public Relations of Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs/uyu) - 

The Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs strives to strengthen the national entrepreneurial ecosystem oriented to create technology-based added value as per Presidential Regulation Number 2 of 2022 on National Entrepreneurship Development for the 2021-2024 period.

“Presidential Regulation Number 2 of 2022 mandates the establishment of a National Entrepreneurship Development Committee that aims to synergize ministries and institutions as well as monitor the implementation of programs determined in the regulation," Deputy IV of the coordinating ministry Mohammad Rudy Salahuddin noted in an official statement received here on Saturday.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto was appointed as the steering officer of the committee, while Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Teten Masduki served as the executive head of the committee.

The coordinating ministry’s deputy assessed that strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem is important to prepare Indonesia in optimizing the peak of the demographic bonus in 2030.

"According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) survey in 2019, some 35.5 percent of people aged 15-35 years in Indonesia are keen to become entrepreneurs. The figure is one of the highest percentages as that compared to other ASEAN countries," he noted.

However, currently, Indonesia’s entrepreneurship ratio has only reached 3.47 percent. The number is quite low as compared to the government's target of 3.95 percent.

The presidential regulation also states that the government provides several benefits to entrepreneurs, including online registration of business licenses, assistance for standardization and certification, as well as access to financing and lending.

In addition, the business actors are given access to the state-owned enterprises digital market, provision of raw and auxiliary materials, research and business development, as well as business capacity improvement.

"In addition, the regulation states that incentives will be provided to entrepreneurs as reduction or exemption from regional taxes and levies, subsidies on loan interest of the government program credit, as well as income tax facilities," Salahuddin added//ANT

The Home Affairs Ministry's director general of regional administration development, Safrizal ZA. (ANTARA/HO-Kemendagri) - 

Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian has issued a ministerial instruction to regulate COVID-19 prevention measures during the MotoGP event at the Mandalika International Street Circuit, West Nusa Tenggara in 2022, a ministry's official stated.

The ministry's Director General of Regional Administration Development, Safrizal ZA, remarked that the Mandalika Circuit will host the MotoGP official pre-season test on February 11-13 and Mandalika MotoGP on March 18-20.

The enactment of Home Affairs Ministry Instruction No. 08 of 2022 is aimed at ensuring the COVID-19 situation will remain under control before, during, and after the MotoGP event at the circuit, he noted.

"The ministry's instruction, which would be effective until March 21, 2022, regulates that at most 100 thousand spectators will be allowed, with occupancy rate at the festival class being restricted to 10 percent of the total capacity," Safrizal stated in his e-mail received in Jakarta on Saturday.

MotoGP spectators and participants, including racers, team crews, and officials, would be required to complete their second vaccine dose and present their COVID-19 test certificate with negative results before being allowed to participate in the event, the director general explained.

Spectators from outside Lombok Island are required to submit the COVID-19 test certificate with samples attained by PCR testing a day before their arrival, while spectators from Lombok Island have an additional option to furnish the test certificate with samples attained by antigen testing a day before their arrival, and their PCR test certificate will be valid for two days, he added.

"(Participants) are required to complete their second vaccine dose and present the COVID-19 PCR test certificate with negative results performed a day before their arrival. They are also obligated to undergo another PCR testing after they arrive in Lombok," Safrizal stated.

He also noted that the ministry's directive instructed regional governments to expedite their vaccination efforts to achieve 80-percent coverage for the first and second vaccine doses and continue offering booster vaccine doses by a week at the latest before the MotoGP competition's date.

Regional authorities should additionally prepare healthcare facilities, backup health workers, and activate COVID-19 task forces in the provinces, cities, districts, and sub-districts until the lowest community level, the director general remarked.

To prevent public crowding that might be causal to the spread of the COVID-19 infection, regional governments must discourage residents from setting up tents or organising community gatherings to watch MotoGP competitions outside the Mandalika Circuit, Safrizal remarked.

Apart from encouraging intensive coordination among regional leaders, he also expressed hope that the public would actively partake in ensuring that the MotoGP event at the Mandalika Circuit would be held in a healthy and safe manner to safeguard from the potential spread of the COVID-19 infection//ANT

Illustration - Anti-doping campaign. (ANTARA) - 

Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI) will continue the anti-doping campaign in competitive sports matches after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) lifted the sanction on Indonesia that barred it from raising its flag at international competitions.

"The Central KONI board, as the government's partner in developing competitive sports, is committed to promoting the anti-doping campaign nationwide not only at the national level but also at the city and district level," Lukman Djajadikusuma, the secretary general of the Central KONI board, noted in the official statement on Saturday.

Doping must be eradicated in Indonesia, as it is a disgrace in competitive sports, he remarked while informing that the sports organization will involve relevant stakeholders in the anti-doping campaign.

"In our campaign, the Central KONI board will involve all members, including sports organization branches, provincial KONI offices and until the city- and district-level KONI offices. Anti-doping values must be promoted even from the first level of athletes training and to all sports patriots," Djajadikusuma stated.

Meanwhile, Head of the Indonesia Anti-Doping Organization (IADO) Mushtofa Fauzi attributed contributions made by stakeholders, including the government, to the success in reforming the national anti-doping organization.

After WADA revoked its sanction imposed on Indonesia following the country's failure to abide by the WADA Code on doping testing last year, the former Indonesia Anti-Doping Institution (LADI) was reformed into the current IADO.

"We are impressed that during the youth and sports minister's meeting with the president, he expressed his support to our mission to reform the system from the basic level. We also joined hands with other stakeholders, including the House of Representatives (DPR RI) Commission X legislators, to transform our anti-doping approach to meet WADA's standards," Fauzi remarked.

The IADO head is committed to continuing to reform the organization's administration to advance the national anti-doping monitoring system.

He also reiterated the importance of support from the government and stakeholders in the national sports sector in enhancing IADO to become a clean, professional, modern, and independent anti-doping organization that adheres to the WADA Code.

Earlier, on Friday (Feb 4), the WADA sanction was lifted on Indonesia following the organization’s final assessment concluding that Indonesia has fulfilled its obligation to rectify errors that led to the sanctions in September last year//ANT