VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Warnings echoed in Germany for the people of Europe's largest economy to do their part in efforts to stop the spread of the new coronavirus as it grapples with a second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The additional daily cases of COVID-19 in Germany hit a record Thursday.

"There is no doubt now that this is the beginning of a second wave (of the COVID-19 outbreak) which is huge," German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff, Helge Braun, told public broadcaster ARD.

"At the start of this second wave, the key is in our hands to stop the transmission of infection. The longer we wait and the less assertive we are, the more this virus will affect not only our health but also our economy," said Braun.

By European standards, Germany has so far experienced relatively low rates of coronavirus infection and death from COVID-19 during the pandemic. However, additional daily recent cases of COVID-19 have surged in recent weeks.

Germany's daily new COVID-19 cases have now hit a record 6,638, bringing the total cases since the start of the pandemic to 341,223, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases on Thursday.

The previous record daily increase was 6,294 on March 28, according to RKI data. German states agreed on Wednesday night to expand restrictive measures to counter the spread of the coronavirus to larger regions of the country.

The decision came as new cases of COVID-19 in Germany surged, but Merkel warned that even harsher steps may be needed.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn warned that people's behavior in the coming days will determine whether they can celebrate Christmas with their families this year.

"It is important to understand that we are not powerless against this virus. We can do something, we can all make a difference every day," Spahn told Deutschlandfunk radio on Thursday.

"We can be a barrier to the transmission of this virus if we are careful of each other and keep the number of new infections to a level we can handle."

Thursday's tally showed the number of reported fatalities from COVID-19 rose by 33 to 9,710. (Antaranews)

Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said that the implementation of Industry 4.0 in Indonesia requires the support and role of startups or startups.

"The Industrial Revolution 4.0 requires the participation of startups as implementers and problem solvers to realize Indonesia 4.0. For this reason, the technology solution ecosystem formed by Startup4Industry will support the creation of the ecosystem," said the Minister of Industry when inaugurating the Startup4Industry Program which was broadcast online, Wednesday.

The Minister of Industry said that since the launch of Making Indonesia 4.0 by President Joko Widodo in 2018, the Industry 4.0 roadmap has guided efforts to revitalize the industrial sector by using digital technology.

The main objective is to increase productivity and quality more efficiently so they can compete in the global arena.

Under the Making Indonesia 4.0 program, the Ministry of Industry has implemented various strategies to encourage the application of 4.0 technology in the country, including through implementing a pilot project for the implementation of Industry 4.0, training for Industry 4.0 transformation managers, socialization, and seminars on Industry 4.0, assessment and mentoring for INDI 4.0 (Indonesia Industry 4.0 Readiness Index), e-Smart IKM, and the Startup4industry program.

On the same occasion, the Director-General of Small, Medium, and Various Industries (IKMA) Gati Wibawaningsih explained that the Startup4Industry 2020 Program has a series of activities that will last until December 2020.

"There is a problem-solving based competition using Industry 4.0 technology to deal with the impact of COVID-19," Gati said.

The agenda for this activity also includes solution discussions between problem owners and technology startups, Tech Link, or business meetings with industry, especially the SME sector, and implementing webinars and workshop series.

"On the day of the launch of Startup4Industry 2020, a national seminar was also held with the headings Startup, Technology Provider in the New Normal Period and Startup Vs Big Industry, Disrupting or Empowering The Giant?" Said Gati.

The National Seminar is an event to convey the benefits of Industry 4.0 technology and to strengthen the existence and role of startups as the main technology providers in new normal times.

The implementation of the Startup4industry Program in 2018 and 2019 has successfully made several achievements, including the number of competition participants reaching 220 startup players, with 15 implementation projects carried out by startups in the IKM sector, and 26 IKM using technology solutions from the startup.

Furthermore, one of the finalists at the 2018 Startup4industry competition, namely MSMB, could win the 2020 Hermes Startup Award, an international competition that was first organized by Deutsche Messe, organizer of the Hannover Messe. (Antaranews)

The Malaysian Ministry of Health (KKM) stated that it is increasing the preparedness of various aspects of health in dealing with COVID-19, including increasing the capacity of 54,706 RT-PCR tests per day.

"This achievement is the result of a cooperation agreement between 61 laboratories under KKM, the Malaysian Army, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, State Universities and Private Universities and private laboratories," said Malaysian Health Minister Adham Baba in Putrajaya, Thursday.

He said that 13 PTN laboratories under the Ministry of Higher Education and private laboratories are now pushing human resources to the maximum stage.

Until October 14, 2020, he said, as much as 42 percent of the country's laboratory capacity was used and that number would increase to test more samples, especially in the red zone, yellow zone, and screening and close contact detection activities by KKM.

"In Sabah, the Kota Kinabalu government health laboratory, the laboratory at Queen Elizabeth Hospital with a capacity of 2,500 tests a day are already operating. Meanwhile, the remaining samples from the whole of Sabah were taken by Malaysian Air Force flights to Peninsular Malaysia," he said.

In addition, laboratory equipment at the Tawau Kubota Health Clinic is being upgraded so that it can run RT-PCR testing and is expected to operate in the near future.

"In the field also early detection of positive cases of COVID-19, more RTK-Ag tests have been used," he said.

KKM reported that until October 14, 2020, at 12.00 there were 660 recent cases with four deaths. (Antaranews)

A tectonic earthquake measuring 5.0 magnitude rocked the West Aceh Regency and its surroundings on Thursday (15/10/2020) at 11.59 WIB.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) of Mata Ie Aceh Besar Geophysics Station said that this shallow earthquake had no potential for a tsunami.

"The results of the BMKG analysis show that this earthquake has a parameter update with a magnitude of M = 5.0. The epicenter of the earthquake is located at coordinates 4.02 North Latitude and 95.89 East Longitude, or precisely located at sea at a distance of 30 km southwest of Meulaboh City, Aceh Barat Regency, Aceh at depth of 54 km, "said Head of BMKG Mata Ie Aceh Besar Geophysical Station, Djati Cipto Kuncoro in his statement in Banda Aceh.

He explained that the type and mechanism of the earthquake by paying attention to the location of the epicenter and the depth of the hypocenter is a type of shallow earthquake due to subduction activity.

"The results of the analysis of the source mechanism show that an earthquake has a thrust fault mechanism," he said.

Earthquake shocks, added Djati, were felt in the Nagan Raya IV MMI area.

"If during the day it is felt by many people in the house," he said.

This earthquake was also felt in Aceh Jaya III MMI. The vibrations were felt real in the house as if a large truck was passing by. This earthquake was also felt in Banda Aceh, South Aceh, Aceh Barat Daya II MMI with vibrations felt only by a few people, and light objects that were hanging were shaking.

"Until now, there has been no report on the impact of the damage caused by the earthquake. Modeling results show that this earthquake has no potential for a tsunami. Until 12.30 WIB, BMKG monitoring results have shown no aftershock activity," he concluded. (RRI)