VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) of the Republic of Indonesia will cooperate with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on developing the Covid-19 vaccine.

The cooperation is to ensure the speed of access to vaccines in line with international standards.

“Based on our meeting with the UAE drug regulatory agency, we will develop a joint MOU. BPOM and the UAE’s Ministry of Health will collaborate to ensure the vaccine acceleration through a more directed regulatory process that meets international standards,” the head of BPOM, Penny K. Lukito said in a press statement on Tuesday (1/9).

“In this MOU we will also oversee the regulatory process in the field of drugs and vaccines together and the development of the pharmaceutical industry of the two countries,” Penny said.

Penny added that the agreement also includes investment plans both in Indonesia and in the UAE.

(PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARIAT / PNA)

The Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) of the Republic of Indonesia has developed a roadmap for the Merah Putih vaccine, or Red and White vaccine.

The Head of BPOM, Penny K. Lukito, explained that the roadmap had been submitted to the Minister of Research and Technology in mid-August.

“We keep pursuing the Merah Putih vaccine, developed by the Ministry of Research and Technology, the National Research and Innovation Agency [Bappenas] and the Eijkman Institute of Molecular Biology,” Penny said in a press statement on Tuesday (1/9).

“BPOM has made the roadmap for vaccine development. It has to meet the requirements for pre-clinical data, clinical data, and quality control,” she added.

The roadmap will be followed up with an FGD (focus group discussion) with relevant stakeholders so that the vaccine development can be accelerated to catch up with the national programs.

Penny Lukito also explained that BPOM has provided assistance in developing vaccines through international cooperation. (presidential secretariat / nouva)

The COVID-19 Task Force of the Republic of Indonesia revealed there has been an increase in the death toll of COVID-19 patients in Indonesia in the past week.

Wiku Adisasmito, spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force explained that in terms of the cure rate, Indonesia is higher than the world average, he said in a press conference broadcast on Tuesday (1/9).

Meanwhile, the cumulative number of recovered cases is sitting at 128,057 or 72.1 percent.

“We need to convey that the number of recovered cases in Indonesia is higher than the world achievement, namely 69.97 percent,” Wiku said.

Wiku Adisasmito also conveyed that the rate of recovery in Indonesia varies from province to province. He explained that there are several provinces that have a fairly high recovery rate.

Provinces with the highest Covid-19 recovery rate includes Central Sulawesi at 90.87 percent, Bangka Belitung at 90.79 percent, and Bali at 85.76 percent. (presidential secretariat / nouva)

Jakarta. The Malaysian Government will temporarily ban citizens of India, Indonesia, and the Philippines from entering the country starting Monday.

The restrictions will affect those with long-term passes, students, expatriates, permanent residents as well as family members of Malaysians, Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in a press conference on Tuesday.

Ismail said the Malaysian government would continue to monitor the situation and could expand restrictions if virus cases escalated in more countries.

Teuku Faizasyah, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Indonesia had made several efforts to anticipate the ban, one of which was proposing a travel corridor.

"Indonesia has proposed a travel corridor within the framework of ASEAN and the status of Indonesia's proposal is currently being studied by ASEAN member countries," Teuku told CNNIndonesia.

He said the ministry suggests forming a travel corridor that applies to all ASEAN countries. Other than that, he said there is not much that can be done while countries are still focused on dealing with the pandemic.

Indonesia comes after the Philippines in having the largest number of coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia, while India is grappling with total infections nearing 4 million.

The Malaysian government will extend large-scale social restrictions until the end of the year as the virus “is still actively spreading across the world,” Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in a speech on Friday.

Malaysia had also temporarily prohibited the arrival of foreign tourists since March.

Source: CNNIndonesia, Bloomberg.