VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Task Force for Handling COVID-19 said the development of the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in 13 priority provinces showed good results with general data that these provinces could control the addition of positive cases.

"The 13 priority provinces have been able to control the addition of weekly positive cases. However, what remains a big challenge is controlling the addition of weekly death cases. Strive for early handling of COVID-19 patients so that the potential for recovery will be higher," said the Spokesperson for the Handling Task Force. COVID-19 Prof. Wiku Adisasmito in a press release received in Jakarta, Friday.

The 13 priority provinces for handling COVID-19 are North Sumatra, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Papua, Bali, Aceh, West Sumatra, Riau, and East Kalimantan.

"Priority provinces are seen from various aspects, such as the number of active cases, cure rates, deaths, and conditions in their respective regions," said Wiku.

There are several provinces that have received records because of an increase in the number of cases in the ratio 19-25 October 2020 with 26 October-1 November 2020.

Judging from the positive cases, there are three provinces that have experienced an increase, namely Papua up 8.2 percent, West Sumatra up 7.8 percent, and North Sumatra up 2.9 percent.

In a comparison of cases of death, six provinces experienced an increase in the mortality rate, namely in Papua up 350 percent, followed by South Sulawesi 120 percent, East Kalimantan 27.3 percent, North Sumatra 17.6 percent, Aceh up 5.6 percent, and West Sumatra increased. 2.7 percent.

"This is quite an alarming figure," said Wiku.

Wiku also expressed his appreciation for the provinces that reduced the addition of weekly cases and deaths, such as Aceh (-67.5 percent), Riau (-32.6 percent), and Bali (-32.5 percent).

Meanwhile, the regions that reduced the increase in the mortality rate were West Java (-65 percent), Bali (-34.6 percent), and DKI Jakarta (-19.7 percent).

Meanwhile, if we look at the development of cumulative cases from the start of the pandemic to the present, several provinces have experienced various developments.

In the trend of death cases, regions such as North Sumatra, DKI Jakarta, Central Java, East Java, South Sulawesi, Papua, Aceh, and West Sumatra show a decreasing trend in the percentage of deaths.

Provinces with an increasing trend in the percentage of weekly deaths, including West Java, South Kalimantan, Bali, Riau, and East Kalimantan.

"The steepest increase occurred in East Kalimantan, which was originally 1.49 percent on September 27, to 3.42 percent on November 1," said Wiku.

Bali must also pay attention to the percentage of cases of death, which was originally 2.97 percent on September 27 to 3.29 percent on November 1.

"Even though more people have experienced a decline, the trend of death cases still needs to be a major concern so that there are no deaths at all," said Wiku.

Each province is asked to increase the number of daily testing (inspection) and tracing, because it solves reduce the percentage of deaths.

The recovery trend for COVID-19 patients in 13 priority provinces is showing good results. Wiku said that all priority provinces continued to experience improvement in recovery between 27 September 2020 and 1 November 2020.

"The highest recovery trend was in South Sulawesi, from 74.06 percent on 27 September, to 90.09 percent on 1 November. This is a fairly high increase," he explained.

In addition, North Sumatra also shows a good recovery trend, from 64.19 percent previously on September 27 to 81.66 percent on November 1.

In Papua, especially Jayapura City have the highest mortality rate, while they recorded the percentage of recoveries as of September 27 at 62.8 percent, however, as of November 1, it decreased to 51.31 percent.

"For provinces that show a declining trend of recovery, please really improve the quality of their health services and ask the public to get checked out if they experience symptoms of COVID-19," said Wiku. (Antaranews)

The government ensures that the COVID-19 vaccine that will be given to residents is proven to have passed clinical trials and is safe, and asks the public not to worry about this.

"I want to appeal to the public not to worry and worry because the government will definitely provide a vaccine that is proven safe and passes clinical trials according to the recommendations of the WHO (world health organization)," said Spokesperson for the Task Force for Handling COVID-19 Prof. Wiku Adisasmito in Jakarta, Friday.

Wiku said that WHO is optimistic that researchers will develop a safe and effective vaccine to overcome the transmission of the coronavirus and currently there are several vaccine candidates that have entered phase three clinical trials.

The Ministry of Health, according to Wiku, is focusing on completing the COVID-19 vaccination road map which will serve as a guide in the stages of vaccination.

The vaccination roadmap includes the determination of vaccine recipients, vaccination schedules, and vaccine distribution flow.

In addition, the government is accelerating logistical and human resource preparations to carry out the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination with the main priority of at-risk groups and residents in high-risk areas.

"However, we hope that we don't just wait for the vaccine and ignore health protocols. For now, adhering to health protocols is the only way to avoid COVID-19," said Wiku. (Antaranews)

LIPI Research Center held a webinar in commemoration of World Cities Day on Thursday. The webinar takes on the theme of City Transformation for Sustainable Development Goals.

Head of the LIPI Research Center, Herry Yogaswara, said that city transformation needs to be carried out by fully involving all components of society, including informal input.

He said city transformation is a fundamental change, involving more changes in the development framework.

"Therefore, the population approach needs to be an important aspect to consider," he said in the online webinar.

Herry said that the informal strategies that exist at the community level, which are developed by community groups especially vulnerable groups in urban areas, have not been integrated into urban planning which tends to be formal in nature.

"The right policies must be prepared to anticipate the increase in inequality that might occur," he said.

LIPI Population Research Center researcher Luh Kitty Katherina said that studies on urbanization, especially in developing countries, focused on the main cities of a country experiencing a very fast urbanization process, forming large urban areas or mega-urban, leaving other cities in the country.

"Apart from being a place of population concentration, these cities have a very high economic contribution to the national economy. However, nowadays, the urbanization map is starting to shift," Kitty said.

This shift shows that small and medium cities have an important role as a trigger and center that can attract people to come and live. They also have the potential to play an important role in balancing regional and rural development if they are well planned and managed.

"In Indonesia, the stretching development of medium-sized cities or often referred to as secondary cities began to appear around the 1970s," said Kitty.

A LIPI researcher, Galuh Syahbana Indraprahasta, explained that the development of information and communication technology is also crucial for urban areas.

"This fusion between technology and urban systems has created the Smart City label," she explained.

"There are several interesting lessons from the anecdotal cases of Smart City in Indonesia, namely people are more placed as users; greater opportunities for communities to participate in both the planning process and as Human Censorship; Efforts to involve the community require a process of socialization and learning that is not instantaneous," Galuh said.

The world organization United Nations (UN) named October 31 as World City Day as a collaborative effort between countries to address the challenges of urbanization and contribute to sustainable urban development around the world.

This year, World City Day takes the theme Valuing Our Communities and Cities so policies fairly respect the community and the city itself. (VOI)

Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Lim Jock Hoi in Jakarta, Thursday, confirmed that the special travel policy (travel corridor arrangement) will soon be realized so that trade and economic activities in the region are not disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are still designing the special travel policy and hopefully we can immediately make a declaration about special trips, especially for the essential sectors," said Lim Jock Hoi during a dialogue with ERIA President Prof. Hidetoshi Nishimura.

ERIA or the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia is one of the study institutions that focuses on exploring economic and trade issues in the region.

The ASEAN Secretary-General is aware that each member country has currently agreed on a special travel agreement through a bilateral agreement.

He argued that they also needed special travel arrangements at the regional level to enhance cooperation on economic recovery during and after the epidemic.

According to Lim, the ASEAN travel corridor is also an effort to ensure markets in the Southeast Asia region remain open during the pandemic.

An open market has become one of the important factors that have accelerated economic recovery in the 10 member countries of the association.

The ten ASEAN member countries are Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

The ASEAN economic ministers agreed on ensuring the market remains open so that access to essential products and services is not disrupted, for example, the ASEAN Special Summit Declaration (Summit) in Hanoi as a commitment to improving the trade supply chain connectivity in the region.

"We also continue to build cooperation with countries outside ASEAN through the ASEAN 3 and ASEAN 1 mechanism," he said in the dialogue held by ERIA, Thursday.

Lim's statement refers to the Declaration of the Special ASEAN Summit on COVID-19, which was launched on April 14, 2020 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The declaration was followed up by the launch of the Hanoi Action Plan on June 26, 2020. President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo at the opening of the 36th ASEAN Summit which was held virtually on June 26, 2020, proposed the importance of forming a special travel agreement in the region or the ASEAN travel corridor arrangement.

According to President Jokowi, special travel arrangements in the region will show ASEAN's strategic meaning in the eyes of the world.

During a pandemic situation, Indonesia has agreed on special travel agreements with the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, China, and Singapore.

In addition, the Indonesian and Japanese governments in October 2020 also agreed on establishing a travel corridor between the two countries.

Referring to President Jokowi's statement in October, Indonesia and Japan are likely to formalize a special travel agreement in November. However, all travel corridor agreements made by Indonesia only apply to essential business trips and official travel. (Antaranews)