VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday decried countries - without naming any - who rejected facts about the coronavirus pandemic and ignored guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Guterres addressed a special session of the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on COVID-19, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year and spread globally, so far infecting nearly 65 million people and killing nearly 1.5 million.

Dozens of world leaders have submitted pre-recorded video statements for the two-day meeting.

“From the start, the World Health Organization provided factual information and scientific guidance that should have been the basis for a coordinated global response,” Guterres said.

“Unfortunately, many of these recommendations were not followed. And in some situations, there was a rejection of facts and an ignoring of the guidance. And when countries go in their own direction, the virus goes in every direction,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump cut funding to the WHO earlier this year and announced plans to quit the Geneva-based body over accusations it was a puppet of China, which the WHO denied. The U.S. withdrawal would have taken effect in July next year, but U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has said he will rescind the move.

“The pandemic underscores the importance of the World Health Organization, an institution that needs to be strengthened,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Long-simmering tensions between the United States and China hit boiling point over the pandemic at the United Nations, where months of bickering between the superpowers has spotlighted Beijing’s bid for greater multilateral influence in a challenge to Washington’s traditional global influence. (Reuters)

The Research and Technology Ministry has formed a National Team for Development of the Red and White COVID-19 Vaccine to support the country's self-reliance in producing the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Indonesia, with a population of 270 million, needs vaccine in large quantities. Moreover, re-vaccination or vaccine booster would be required. Hence, cooperation with other countries is direly needed for the development of a domestic vaccine to support self-reliance in vaccine production," Research and Technology Minister Bambang P. S. Brodjonegoro affirmed.

Brodjonegoro, concurrently chief of the National Research and Innovation Board (BRIN), made the statement at an online press conference held on the sidelines of a working visit in Cibinong, West Java, to convey a decree on formation of a National Team for the Red and White COVID-19 Vaccine Development and to inspect the Innovation, Science, and Technology Development Center Building.

The decree pertains to the appointment of research teams of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and University of Indonesia (UI) to partake in development of the National Team for Red and White COVID-19 Vaccine. The Red and White vaccine is a COVID-19 vaccine developed locally by using the isolated virus circulating across Indonesia.

LIPI Chief Laksana Tri Handoko drew attention to the long span of time taken to develop the COVID-19 vaccine since it is developed from its seed.

"The initial stage covers pre-clinical trials of the vaccine seed and vaccine test on animals. We must go through phases I, II, and III to see the efficacy and security of the vaccine," he noted.

After the vaccine clears the third-phase clinical trial and is administered to the people, monitoring would nonetheless be conducted for the next five to 10 years since its side effects will not emerge immediately, he expounded.

The monitoring is deemed necessary to maintain the safety and quality of the vaccine, he stated.

Chief of the Consortium for COVID-19 Research and Innovation of the Research and Technology Ministry Ali Ghufron stated that in addition to helping the country handle the COVID-19 pandemic, the development of the Red and White COVID-19 vaccine also demonstrated Indonesia’s capability to singlehandedly produce the COVID-19 vaccine.

Currently, six institutes -- the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Airlangga University (Unair), LIPI, UI, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), and Gadjah Mada University (UGM) -- are developing the Red and White COVID-19 vaccine through different platforms.

Brodjonegoro projected the Red and White COVID-19 vaccine to be ready for distribution in the fourth quarter of 2021.

“Hopefully, in the fourth quarter of 2021, the Red and White vaccine would be distributed to the public," Brodjonegoro stated here recently. (Antaranews)

Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, urged the public to remain productive and innovative amid the COVID-19 pandemic to help the government recover from the impact of the health and economic crisis.

"In a situation like this, I hope that all levels of society, the actors of the interests, will be able to carry out productive activities. (I hope they would) Continue to come up with innovative ideas," Sri Mulyani said during an online discussion in Jakarta on Thursday.

The innovative ideas contributed by the community to remain productive will greatly help overcome the impact of the pandemic, said the minister.

Efforts need to be made considering that the current crisis has had an impact not only on public health, but also on the economy, education, and social activities of the community, she added.

Sri Mulyani said the government has utilized the State Budget instrument properly to deal with and handle the impact of COVID-19, allocating a budget of Rp97 trillion for the health sector and Rp233.69 trillion for social protection.

"We are using the state budget (APBN) instrument as an empowerment which is considered important to deal with COVID-19 and its impacts," she noted.

Not only health and social protection, she said, the government is also helping the business sector through various programs covering loan restructuring, interest subsidies, and the provision of working capital loans, productive assistance, and tax incentives.

The efforts made by the government through the state budget have been able to produce positive performance, namely a recovery in the third quarter from the previous quarter. Indonesia’s economy contracted 3.9 percent in the third quarter compared to 5.34 percent in the second quarter.

Sri Mulyani emphasized that the state budget must continue to carry out extraordinary tasks in the field of stabilization, distribution, and allocation, considering that the taxation sector revenue is very depressed.

"At the same time, we must be able to turn it back into a state financial instrument which is on health status," the minister remarked. (Antaranews)

The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has identified 5,807 lakes, including natural lakes and artificial lakes, throughout Indonesia.

"The lake book team has identified 5,807 lakes spread across Indonesia's islands, with a total area covering 586,871.64 hectares," Aan Dianto, a team member, stated during a webinar on "The Indonesia Lake Database and the launch of the “Indonesian Lakes Identification Book: The Strategic Role of the Availability of Basic Data on Lakes in Indonesia" here on Thursday.

The new book series on Indonesian Lakes was compiled by 19 personnel of LIPI.

The number of lakes in the country increased significantly, from 1,575 comprising 840 large lakes and 735 small lakes (in-situ) recorded earlier. The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) in 2016 recorded that the country's lakes covered an area totaling 491,724 hectares (ha).

"If we illustrate, then the total area (of the lakes) is slightly larger than the 'land area' of Thailand reaching 513,120 hectares," Dianto explained.

The LIPI Limnology Research Center was behind the latest identification of Indonesian lakes.

Of the total 5,807 lakes, 1,022 are natural lakes, 1,314 are artificial lakes, and 3,471 had yet to be identified as natural or artificial lakes.

"They are yet unidentified since we cannot categorize them as natural or artificial lakes," he pointed out.

Of the 5,807 lakes, 2,038 lakes have been named, while 3,769 are unnamed.

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The size-wise classification shows 1,797 very small lakes, 3,949 small lakes, 51 medium-sized lakes, nine large-sized lakes, and one very large lake, specifically Lake Toba in North Sumatra Province.

A lake is termed as very large if its area is over 100 thousand ha, while a large lake has an area of between 10 thousand and 100 thousand ha, medium-sized lake between one thousand and 10 thousand ha, small lake between one and one thousand ha, and very small lake covers less than one ha.

The Indonesian Lake Identification Book comprises several series: the Sumatra Series, Java-Bali-Nusa Tenggara Series, Sulawesi Series, Maluku-Papua Series, and Kalimantan Series.

In the Sumatra Series, there are 382 lakes in Sumatra comprising 81 natural lakes, 31 artificial lakes, and 270 unidentified lakes.

In the Java-Bali-Nusa Tenggara Series, LIPI has identified 1,990 lakes including 325 natural lakes, 845 artificial lakes, and 820 unidentified lakes.

In the Sulawesi Series, 472 lakes are identified comprising 94 natural lakes, 11 artificial lakes, and 267 unidentified lakes.

In the Maluku-Papua Series, there are 618 lakes constituting 93 natural lakes and 525 unidentified lakes.

Of the 2,345 lakes in the Kalimantan Series, some 429 are natural lakes, 426 are artificial lakes, and 1,490 are unidentified lakes. (Antaranews)