VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. The Indonesian government is targeting to obtain 100 million doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine to help the country contain the COVID-19 pandemic, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has informed.

"(We) are targeting to receive more than 100 million doses," he said while observing the vaccination of hundreds of preachers at the Office of East Java Provincial Executive Board of the Islamic Organization Nahdlatul Ulama (PWNU) in Surabaya on Tuesday.

"May the vaccination of PWNU preachers raise the public's confidence to use the vaccine, which is secure and halal,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, deputy chief of the PWNU Religious Council (syuriah), KH Anwar Iskandar, said vaccination is compulsory as protecting the safety of humans is a priority right now.

He said he believes that the AstraZeneca vaccine is halal and secure, bearing in mind that many Middle Eastern countries have also declared it as such.

"Based on the decision made by competent institution LBM (Batsul Masai), AstraZeneca is pure and halal,” he added.

The Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) had earlier allowed the use of AstraZeneca vaccines produced by SK Bioscience of South Korea after conducting a series of studies and receiving inputs from authorities and experts with regard to its safety.

MUI chief for the fatwa section, Asrorun Niam Sholeh, gave five reasons for the council's decision to allow the use of AstraZeneca vaccines. First, Indonesia is in a state of urgency. Second, there is confirmation from experts about the danger of fatalities unless vaccination is conducted. Third, the supply of pure and halal COVID-19 vaccines is not enough to build herd immunity.

Fourth, the government has provided a security guarantee on the use of the vaccines. Fifth, the government does not have the freedom to choose vaccines due to limited supplies, he explained.

Health Minister Sadikin said last Friday that the government will begin distributing AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccines from this week to support the national vaccination program.

The government had suspended the distribution of AstraZeneca's vaccines following a report on their side-effects.

With the results of a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), the British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and the European drugs authority showing that the vaccine is safe for use, the government has now decided to restart distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccines.

The Health Ministry, the Drug and Food Control Agency (BPOM), and the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) will soon issue a technical guidance on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The MHRA, which had announced a review of several thromboembolic events in people who received AstraZeneca jabs in the United Kingdom, has said the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19 outweigh the risks and has recommended the use of the vaccine.

Indonesia received 1.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine under the COVAX facility, the global initiative for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, on March 8 this year. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. Indonesian Regional Representative Council (DPD RI) Chief A. A. LaNyalla Mahmud Mattalitti believes that the policy to import rice is not a solution, as several parts of the country are entering the harvest period.

"Rice import is not a solution, the more so since several (parts of the country) are entering the harvest period," Mattalitti remarked while attending a function marking the first harvest of rice of the nutri zinc variety in Sumba Barat Daya District, East Nusa Tenggara Province, on Tuesday.

Attendees at the function also comprised Senator Asyera R. A. Wundalero of East Nusa Tenggara, Senator Bustami Zainudin of Lampung, and Sumba Barat Daya district head and vice district head.

Mattalitti, concurrently senator of East Java, noted that the rice import policy is not a solution, while rice stocks at the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) are sufficient.

"The issue we face is not a rice shortage since stocks of the commodity at the Bulog warehouses are still adequate," Mattalitti noted.

"(However), our problem is a lack of success to control and facilitate the rice distribution process through a good supply chain system. As a result, the prices of unhusked rice in several regions fall," Mattalitti explained.

To this end, he supported Bulog's step to update President Joko Widodo of the recent national stocks of rice.

The issue of rice stocks must be viewed from the government's policy related to the management and trade of the farm commodity, he remarked.

"The policy covers a wide range of issues, ranging from basic philosophy to the government's view to farmers whether to categorize them as a subject or object," he noted. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. The tourism industry has welcomed the government’s plan to reopen Bali island to international tourists by the middle of this year, offering a much-needed lifeline to beleaguered tourism businesses and operators.

"We are very delighted with the move signaled by President Joko Widodo to open Bali in June or July this year. We have been waiting for a year and it has not been in vain," said corporate secretary, PT Destinasi Tirta Nusantara, AB Sadewa, in a statement received here on Tuesday.

"As a tourism industry maker, we hope the reopening of Bali can truly be realized in order to boost the recovery of the tourism and economy sector," he added.

For a year, the tourism sector, which specifically caters to international tourists, has stopped operations due to restrictions on entry of foreign travelers, he noted.

The reopening of Bali is scheduled to begin in July, 2021 with pilot trials in three green zone destinations — Ubud, Sanur, and Nusa Dua. The vaccination campaign is being accelerated in the green zones to ensure the safety and comfort of tourists coming into Bali.

COVID-19 vaccination programs have been held simultaneously in the three green zone areas in Bali, starting Monday (March 22, 2021), with the vaccines supplied by the central government.

The central government has supported the supply of vaccines in accordance with the requirement of 170,487 doses, divided over three regions. At least 47,045 doses have been given to the Ubud region, 87,715 to Nusa Dua, and 35,727 doses to the Sanur region.

Sadewa said he is optimistic that opening Bali to foreign tourists could be a turning point for tourism recovery in Indonesia in general and help move the local economy, such as hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops, and ensure health protocol readiness, or CHSE (Cleanliness, Health, Safety, Environment), as per the standards set by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy.

To maintain tourism sustainability, Sadewa said he hopes the government would roll out stimulus or incentives, especially for tourist agencies to help them restart operations that have been halted for over a year. Such stimulus measures, he said, can be in the form of a soft loan for capital, marketing cost incentives, relaxation for foreign tourists who come to Indonesia, and tourism grants.

He also said he is hoping for prompt implementation of ‘vaccine passports’ for foreign tourists who have received their shots, in order to reduce the risk of transmission. This will certainly encourage travelers who want to vacation in Indonesia as well as boost the level of acceptance of foreign tourists by the Indonesian people, he added.

"We hope that Bali (tourism) will soon be revived if the vaccination process goes on every day. If the spread of COVID-19 begins to slow down, with the designated steps by the regional governments, the opening of the economic sector in Bali can be carried out one by one, especially the tourism sector, to (help the region) return to normal," said President Joko Widodo while reviewing a mass vaccination program in Gianyar, Bali on March 16, 2021.

If the three green or COVID-19-free tourist destinations are opened to tourists, monitoring and evaluation will continue every week, including the developments following the reopening.

"Green Zone Tourism or COVID-19 free areas will be able to accept foreign tourists starting August 17, 2021. It is still the trial stage, because in March, 2022, the whole tourism (area) in Bali will be opened to foreign tourists," said the Gianyar district head I Made Mahayastra.

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, said green tourist destinations that are free of COVID-19 would make tourists, both domestic and foreign, feel safe while vacationing in Bali. On the other hand, those in the tourism industry and the Balinese people will also be safe and comfortable as incoming tourists would be free of COVID-19, he added.  (Antaranews)

Jakarta. Ten Indonesian provinces have successfully managed to bring down their coronavirus infection and death rates through the third round of micro-scale public activity restrictions (PPKM Mikro), according to the national COVID-19 task force.

The imposition of the PPKM Mikro policy from March 9 to 22, 2021 has also resulted in an increase in recovery rates in the targeted provinces — Banten, West Java, Jakarta, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, Bali, East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, and North Sumatra, it stated.

"The recovery rate and level of public compliance with the health protocols in the 10 provinces has also increased," the task force's spokesperson, Wiku Adisasmito, said on Tuesday.

The decline in confirmed COVID-19 cases and rising recovery rates have resulted in a significant drop in bed occupancy rates at hospitals, Adisasmito informed.

In the eight weeks since the PPKM Mikro policy was enforced in the 10 provinces, the number of new confirmed cases has decreased significantly, he said.

At the national level, the infection rate has gone down up to 25.42 percent, while the death rate has also shown a declining trend under the enforcement of PPKM Mikro for nine weeks, he added.

The continued imposition of the PPKM Mikro has also led to a fall in the bed occupancy rates at hospital intensive care units and isolation rooms in each of the 10 provinces, he said.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta provincial administration has extended the implementation of its PPKM Mikro policy till April 5, 2021.

The extension is aimed at maintaining the decline in confirmed COVID-19 cases in the capital city.

PPKM has so far yielded significant results in reducing the number of confirmed infections in the city, head of Jakarta Health Office, Widyastuti, said earlier on Tuesday.

Jakarta recorded a sharp fall in confirmed cases following the implementation of PPKM, with the number of cases dipping from 7,439 on March 8 this year to 5,747 on March 16.

Indonesia has been striving to win the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic ever since the government officially announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.

To contain the spread of infections, the government has not only imposed the PPKM Mikro, but also rolled out a nationwide vaccination program since January 13 this year.

The Health Ministry has estimated that the vaccination of around 181.5 million people under the national program could take 15 months.

To achieve herd immunity and free the nation from the clutches of the pandemic, which has triggered serious public health and economic crises, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has pushed for successfully administering the COVID-19 vaccine to the targeted population.

Indonesia's COVID-19 infection rate crossed one million cases on January 26, 2021. (Antaranews)