VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Commander of the Raja Haji Fisabilillah Airbase Colonel Andi Wijanarko handed over 10,000 units of personal protective equipment and 4,000 masks to the acting governor of Riau Islands Province Isdianto  on Saturday. (ANTARA)

Commander of the Raja Haji Fisabilillah Airbase Colonel Andi Wijanarko handed over 10,000 units of personal protective equipment and 4,000 masks to the acting governor of Riau Islands Province Isdianto in Tanjungpinang, Riau Island, on Saturday.

The personal protective equipment and masks are the second round of assistance from the COVID-19 Central Task Force in Jakarta delivered by the Ar Force C-130 Hercules plane to the province.

"This proves that the Air Force has also participated in and contributed to the handling and prevention of the COVID-19 outbreak by launching air operations to distribute personal protective equipment to the entire unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia including Riau Islands," he said.

He said he will continue to coordinate with the central government to bring more personal protective equipment to the province.

Meanwhile, Isdianto in the capacity as chief of the COVID-19 Riau Islands Provincial Task Force praised all parties that have paid attention to the COVID-19 cases in the province.

"I express our gratitude to the Air Force for facilitating the distribution of personal protective equipment from the central to regional governments. This assistance is very useful four our region which is in dire need of the equipment," he said. (ANTARA)

In the past several weeks, the government has expanded several social assistance programs for low-income citizens across the country affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. As stated by Jakartapost.com  President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said  that the government had made it a top priority to ensure citizens’ basic needs were met. The President also expressed confidence the government could maintain the purchasing power of low-income people during the crisis.

From cash transfers for Jakarta residents to financial aid for bus drivers, these are the programs the government has launched to help low-income citizens during the outbreak. The President said he hoped the social aid would help dissuade people from participating in the annual Idul Fitri mudik (exodus), which is feared will increase the spread of the disease//JP

The United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) for Asia and the Pacific have come up with a joint strategy to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, its chairperson stated. UCLG President Tri Rismaharini, currently Surabaya mayor, spoke of having held a limited meeting via teleconference with UCLG-Aspac members at the Surabaya City Hall on Thursday.

"We believe the COVID-19 pandemic can be handled as soon as possible so that matters can return to normalcy, and we can meet together directly," she noted as quoted by Antara.

The UCLG-Aspac members participating in the limited meeting comprised UCGL-Aspac Secretary-General Bernadia Irawati, Chair of UCLG Standing Committee of Women in Local Governments Chen Yini, Mayor of South Korea's Jeonju Kim Seung-soo, and Mayor of the Philippines' Iriga Madelaine Alfelor. The other participants were Malaysia's Subang Jaya Mayor Noraini Binti Roslan, Professor, Graduate School of Media and Governance of Japan's Keio University Dr. Rajib Shaw, and Head of Incheon ONEA-GETI, UNDRR, Sanjaya Bhatia. Hence, Rismahirini has positively welcomed the launch of condensed guidance by local governments in Asia as one of the instruments to support the strategy to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in their respective cities. (ANTARA)

The Task Force for the Acceleration of COVID-19 Response recorded 3,512 confirmed COVID-19 cases all across the country's 34 provinces on Friday, as Gorontalo Province in Sulawesi reported its first positive case.As quoted by Antara News Agency, Achmad Yurianto, the government’s spokesperson for COVID-19 Response, informed the press on Friday that the death toll had reached 306 and 282 had recovered. he added the 219 new positive cases bring the total to 3,512, while 30 patients recovered, and 26 new fatalities were recorded.On Thursday (Apr 9), some 3,293 positive cases of COVID-19 were registered, with 252 patients having recovered and 280 other patients dead.Jakarta has remained the epicenter of the epidemic in Indonesia, with a record of some 50 percent of the nation’s total cases, notably 1,753 confirmed cases and 154 deaths on Friday, a spike from 1,706 positive cases and 142 deaths on the previous day//Ant