VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. State-run vaccine producer PT Bio Farma (Persero) will start operating its new production facility in April to boost the manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines.

President Director of PT Bio Farma Honesti Basyir remarked that the new facility will increase monthly vaccine production, from 10-12 million doses to over 25 million doses.

"Starting from April, we will activate one new production facility. Thus, Bio Farma’s production capacity, currently standing at 10-12 million doses per month, can be increased to more than 25 million doses per month from April onwards, with two production facilities running," Basyir remarked during a hearing with Commission VI of the House of Representatives here on Monday.

The president director noted that the company had received a certificate of Good Manufacturing Practice (CPOB) from the Food and Drug Control Agency (BPOM), so the new facility could be operated soon.

"This will ensure vaccine supply for the government's program, as we already have the schedule of raw material delivery," he remarked.

Bio Farma has imported vaccine raw material since January, and the state-run firm has bagged the contract for 140 million doses of vaccine raw material from China's Sinovac Biotech.

Negotiation is underway with China's firm for securing an additional 120 million doses of vaccine raw material, he remarked.

"Hence, the total (vaccine) raw material to be delivered to Indonesia is 260 million doses from Sinovac. As of last week, we have received 53 million doses of raw material in five deliveries to Indonesia and have been processed by Bio Farma," he remarked.

Bio Farma would receive 30 million doses of vaccine in April. "Thirty million doses will arrive in April in the first week and in the third or fourth week," he remarked.

Until March 27, Bio Farma had recorded a total of 20.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine delivered to all regions nationwide.

Of the total doses, 14.3 million were distributed to districts and cities, while 10.4 million doses of them were administered to Indonesians. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. The two-pronged approach of implementing the vaccination program and restricting public mobility will effectually curb the spread of COVID-19, according to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

"Among all European nations, two countries no longer record rising number of COVID-19 cases. The first is the country that has expanded its vaccination program, touching 30 percent to 40 percent of its total population," Sadikin noted during a discussion conducted by Charta Politika on the topic "Policy Evaluation, Public Activity and the 2021-Quarter Political Map" here on Monday.

The COVID-19 infection rate in England, where the people’s mobility is commonly high as compared to Germany and France, is categorized as low due to its wide vaccination coverage, according to Sadikin.

In addition, the public's mobility restriction implemented in European nations, such as Spain, has successfully slowed down the COVID-19 infection rate, he pointed out.

"For instance, Spain where the effects of COVID-19 were generally not severe due to its restricted mobility," Sadikin noted.

Hence, he urged the regional administration head to restrict the people's mobility by implementing large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) or micro-scale activity restrictions (PPKM) while simultaneously conducting vaccination.

"I call to apply those two combinations of vaccination and public mobility restrictions. We have to be patient to prevent another rise in the number of COVID-19 cases," he stated. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. Influential parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri said on Monday that Lebanon would sink like the Titanic if it could not form a government as he opened a session to approve emergency funds to literally keep the lights on for two more months.

“The whole country is in danger, the whole country is the Titanic,” Berri said. “It’s time we all woke up because in the end, if the ship sinks, there’ll be no one left.”

Lebanon is in the throes of a financial crisis that poses the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-1990 civil war. Without a new government, it cannot implement the reforms required to unlock desperately needed foreign aid.

But prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri and President Michel Aoun have been at loggerheads for months over the makeup of a new cabinet.

Parliament approved a loan of $200 million to pay for fuel for Lebanon’s electricity company after a warning by the energy ministry that cash had run out for electricity generation beyond the end of the month.

“This should be enough for electricity for around two months or two-and-a-half,” Cesar Abi Khalil, a member of parliament and former energy minister, told Reuters.

The Zahrani power plant, one of Lebanon’s four main electricity producers, has already had to shut down for lack of fuel.

“Any shutdown in one of these big plants affects power generation negatively,” Abi Khalil said. “This means Lebanese make up for it with generators that run on diesel that’s 30% more expensive than the fuel that’s bought by the electricity company.”

Lebanon already lacks power generation capacity and homes and businesses have to cope with power cuts for several hours a day, forcing many to turn to private generators. (Reuters)

Jakarta. A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely”, the Associated Press reported on Monday.

The findings were largely as expected and left many questions unanswered, and the team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis, the report bit.ly/3waktXl added, citing a draft copy obtained by the Associated Press. (Reuters)