VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. Confidence in the safety of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine has taken a big hit in Spain, Germany, France and Italy as reports of rare blood clots have been linked to it and many countries briefly stopped using it, poll data showed on Monday.

The polling firm YouGov said it had already found in late February that Europeans were more hesitant about the AstraZeneca vaccine than about those from Pfizer Inc/BioNTech and Moderna Inc, and that the clot concerns had further damaged public perceptions of the AstraZeneca shot’s safety.

At least 13 European countries in the past two weeks stopped administering the AstraZeneca shot, co-developed with scientists at Oxford University, after reports of a small number of blood disorders.

Many resumed its use on Friday after the European Medicines Agency regulator said in a preliminary safety review on Thursday that the vaccine was safe and effective and not linked with a rise in the overall risk of blood clots.

EMA did not rule out a possible link, however, with rare cases of blood clots in the brain known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST).

YouGov’s poll - which covered about 8,000 people in seven European countries between March 12 and 18 - found that in France, Germany, Spain and Italy, people were now more likely to see the AstraZeneca vaccine as unsafe than as safe.

Some 55% of Germans say it is unsafe, while less than a third think it is safe, the poll showed. In France, where AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine was already unpopular, 61% of people polled say they now see it as unsafe.

In Italy and Spain, most people previously felt the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe - at 54% and 59% respectively - but those rates have fallen to 36% and 38% respectively, in the latest poll.

The survey showed that only in Britain, where the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has been used in a national rollout since January, have the blood clot concerns had little to no impact on public confidence. The majority of people polled in the UK - 77% - still say the shot is safe. Their trust in it is on a par with Pfizer’s 79% perceived safety rating.

YouGov also said there appeared to be no spillover concerns across the seven European countries polled for the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, both of which were seen as being as safe as in a poll three weeks ago. (Reuters)

Jakarta. New Zealand is set to announce on Monday whether it will open quarantine-free travel to Australians, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern indicated that such an arrangement may only be with some Australian states.

Ardern told state broadcaster TVNZ in an interview that initial country-to-country negotiations had turned to state-by-state discussions as the process was taking too long.

“We’ve said: ‘Look, let’s just move state-by-state’ because it’s actually just taking a bit too much work, a bit too difficult,” Ardern said.

“Let’s just operate as Australia has been operating with us. That’s helping to speed things up.”

Australia’s border has been mostly open to neighbouring New Zealanders since last October, with a few short suspensions when there were small coronavirus outbreaks in Auckland. But New Zealand has delayed returning the favour amid more frequent bursts of COVID-19 clusters across Australia.

Ardern did not give any details on when such a travel arrangement was expected, but local media have reported it may be operational by the end of April. The prime minister is expected to announce her decision in a post-Cabinet news conference later on Monday.

Pressure has been mounting on Ardern’s government to allow Australians entry as the country’s tourism sector struggles without international visitors. The opposition National Party is calling for quarantine-free travel with Australia to start immediately.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said earlier this month that a two-way travel arrangement was in New Zealand’s hands. (Reuters)

Jakarta. The Danish Red Cross has launched a catastrophe bond for volcano-related disasters with the support of several financial firms, the groups said on Monday, adding it was the first of its kind.

The $3 million bond will enable the disaster relief agency to get aid quickly to those suffering following the eruption of 10 named volcanoes, in Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Indonesia and Mexico.

Catastrophe bonds offer investors high yields, but do not pay out if a named catastrophe occurs. They typically cover areas prone to hurricanes and typhoons.

The Danish Red Cross worked with insurance group Howden, with risk modelling by Mitiga Solutions and blockchain technology from Replexus, the organisations said in a statement.

Initial investors include Plenum Investments, Schroder Investment Management and Solidum Partners. (Reuters)

Jakarta. Australian authorities are planning to evacuate thousands more people on Monday from flood-affected suburbs in Sydney’s west, which is set for its worst flooding in 60 years with another day of drenching rain expected.

Unrelenting rains over the past three days swelled rivers in Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales (NSW), causing widespread damage and triggering calls for mass evacuations.

“Flooding is likely to be higher than any floods since Nov 1961,” NSW emergency services said in a tweet late Sunday. Authorities expect the wild weather to continue until Wednesday.

The fast-moving flood waters detached houses, swept away vehicles and farm animals, and submerged roads, bridges, houses and farms, television and social media footage showed.

Nearly 2,000 people have already been evacuated from low lying areas, NSW emergency services said.

Large parts of the country’s east coast will get hit by more heavy rains from Monday due to the combination of a tropical low over northern Western Australia and a coastal trough off NSW, the weather bureau said.

“These two moisture feeds are merging and will create a multi-state rain and storm band from Monday,” the Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement.

A severe flood warning has been issued for large parts of NSW as well as neighbouring Queensland.

“These are very, very serious and very severe storms and floods, and it’s a very complex weather system too ... so this is a very testing time,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told radio station 2GB on Monday.

Sydney on Sunday recorded the wettest day of the year with almost 111 mm (4.4 inches) of rain, while some regions in NSW’s north coast received nearly 900 mm of rain in the last six days, more than three times the March average, government data showed. (Reuters)