VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 19 - The United States was joined by Russia, China and Pakistan on Thursday in calling on Afghanistan’s warring sides to reach an immediate ceasefire, at talks that showed Washington’s determination to win backing from regional powers for its plans.

Just six weeks before a deadline for the United States to pull out troops that have been in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years, Washington sent a senior official for the first time to participate in regional peace talks convened by Russia.

The Moscow talks were meant to breathe life into negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Qatar’s capital Doha, stalled over government accusations that the insurgents have done too little to halt violence.

“At this turning point, our four countries call on the sides to hold talks and reach a peace agreement that will end more than four decades of war in Afghanistan,” a joint statement said after Thursday’s talks.

The statement called on the warring sides to curb violence and on the Taliban not to declare offensives in the spring and summer. It also said the four countries were committed to mobilising political and economic support for Afghanistan once a peace settlement had been reached.

U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad’s presence was a sign of Washington’s increasing effort to attract support among regional powers for its plans for Afghanistan.

President Joe Biden must soon decide whether to keep forces on past a May 1 deadline to withdraw, agreed with the Taliban last year under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump. Khalilzad has been trying to drum up backing for a proposal that includes an interim government.

Moscow, which fought in Afghanistan in the 1980s, has hosted talks among Afghan sides and regional powers since 2017. Previously, Washington had largely kept its distance from the so-called “Moscow Format”, focusing on its own direct talks with the Taliban and talks between the Afghan parties themselves.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani opposes an interim government, and a Taliban leader has said the group would not join it, although it supports replacing the current administration.

Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, wrote on Twitter after Thursday’s Moscow talks that the state negotiation team was ready to discuss any topic with the Taliban.

“We called for an end to targeted killings and a comprehensive ceasefire to begin the next rounds of the talks in a peaceful environment,” Abdullah wrote.

The Moscow gathering will be followed by a meeting of regional players in Turkey next month and a summit that Khalilzad has asked the United Nations to organise. (Reuters)

Mar. 19 - Indonesia has recorded a decline in the nationwide trend in COVID-19 infections, according to spokesperson for the Task Force for Handling COVID-19, Wiku Adisasmito.

“Currently, the trend of COVID-19 cases nationally is decreasing. This shows a change in the situation for the better, with a declining trend in transmission,” he said during an online press conference here on Thursday.

Although the government is still trying to improve the accuracy of the data to 100 percent to capture the real situation, still, the trend is quite valid, given the improving global trend, he added.

Given the collaborative efforts made by humanitarian fighters against COVID-19, it is hoped the community will also be encouraged to minimize the potential for COVID-19 transmission by complying with health protocols, he remarked.

Compliance with health protocols can be carried out by the public to support the handling of COVID-19, he said.

"Discipline on health protocols must always be maintained. COVID-19 can attack us anywhere and anytime," he stressed.

Based on data recorded on March 18, 2021, positive cases of COVID-19 increased by 6,570, with the number of active cases recorded at 131,753, or 9.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the cumulative number of recovered patients reached 1,272,958 people, or 87.9 percent, while the cumulative number of deaths recorded at 39,142, or 2.7 percent. (Antaranews)

Mar. 19 - The Research and Technology Ministry on Thursday donated one set of GeNose C-19, a COVID-19 breathalyzer developed by the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM), to the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

The COVID-19 testing tool was handed out by Research and Technology Minister Bambang PS Brodjonegoro to MUI chairman Miftachul Akhyar during a virtual event here.

"This tool is the result of our people's innovation by using artificial intelligence," remarked Brodjonegoro, who also heads the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN).

He said the ulema council and people at large are expected to support the use of GeNose for strengthening Indonesia's COVID-19 screening capability. According to UGM’s official website, the soft launch of the COVID-19 breathalyzer was conducted at the Tugu Train Station in Yogyakarta on February 3, 2021.

The testing tool that can detect "volatile organic compounds through the human breath" has also been deployed to screen passengers departing from Jakarta's Pasar Senen Station.

Brodjonegoro had stated earlier that the GeNose would not serve as a substitute for swab testing (polymerase chain reaction testing).

The breathalyzer has been used to screen train passengers for COVID-19 since February 5, 2021.

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

The government has rolled out a nationwide vaccination program this year to arrest the spread of infections.

According to the Health Ministry, it would take 15 months to vaccinate around 181.5 million people under the national program.

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

To attain herd immunity and free the nation from the clutches of the pandemic, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has stressed on the need for successfully administering the COVID-19 vaccine to the targeted population.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease has dragged Indonesia into serious public health and economic crises. (Antaranews)

Mar. 19 - The COVID-19 Handling Task Force announced that 4,838,752 people received the COVID-19 vaccine in Indonesia as of March 18, rising from 133,504 individuals administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Of the figure, 1,948,531 had taken the second dose of the injection, an increase of 72,391 people from the previous day, according to the Task Force’s data received here on Thursday.

The government has outlined a target to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to 40,349,051 people until June of 2021.

The step was taken to build herd immunity, so that the people are protected from the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Earlier, the Health Ministry’s data on Thursday at 12 p.m. local time indicated a daily rise in the number of COVID-19 cases of 6,570 patients, thereby bringing the total to 1,443,853 cases.

The figure is higher than the daily cure rate that also rose by 6,285 cases, thereby bringing the total to 1,272,958 patients.

Health Ministry’s spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccination Siti Nadia Tarmizi noted that the CoronaVac vaccine was administered to 1.45 million health workers and 50 thousand public service workers.

"We are currently administering this vaccine," Tarmizi revealed.

The Health Ministry is also optimistic that the 1.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines, obtained through the Covax multilateral scheme and the World Health Organization, would be used up before their expiry date in May 2021. (Antaranews)