VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. The Indonesian government, which is striving to inoculate 40,349,049 people by the middle of this year, has vaccinated at least 10,966,934 citizens as of Monday, as per data provided by the COVID-19 task force.

The nation has added 138,515 recipients on Monday against the figure recorded on Sunday, the task force informed.

Of the total vaccine recipients, at least 6,050,732 have received their second shots, it reported.

On Monday, as the government continued its vaccination program in the fasting month of Ramadhan, at least 500 art and cultural workers hailing from Jakarta and its satellite cities were administered their first shots of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Gallery of Indonesia.

Enthusiasm was palpable among the participating artists, who comprised members of the Javanese theatre Bharata 'Wayang Orang' and members of the musical group Bimbo.

Indonesia has been striving to win the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic since March last year.

To stem the transmission of the lethal virus, the government has rolled out a nationwide vaccination program since January 13 this year. The program will extend up to March, 2022.

During the period, the government is targeting to inoculate at least 181.5 million people, comprising 1.3 million paramedics and 17.4 million public sector workers in 34 provinces.

The Health Ministry has estimated that vaccinating the targeted population could take 15 months.

The first phase of the government's immunization program has been segregated into two periods: January-April, 2021 and April, 2021-March, 2022.

As of April 17, 2021, the number of COVID-19 vaccine recipients reached 10,801,244, according to data from the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling.

Even amid vaccine rollouts, Indonesia has been reeling under the impact of the coronavirus pandemic that has crippled economies across the globe.

Indonesia's public health and economy have suffered a major blow, and some sectors, including travel and tourism, have been severely battered by the pandemic.

To revive the tourism sector, the Indonesian government is seeking to implement a travel bubble scheme with some countries, including Singapore.

In the first stage of its implementation, the Indonesia-Singapore travel corridor will officially run between Singapore and Bintan, Riau Islands. (Antaranews)