VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A mall near the Harbor Bay International Ferry Port in Batam, Riau Islands, is seen empty in this photo taken on March 7 as travelers and locals alike avoid public spaces amid a COVID-19 outbreak. (JP)

Singapore has donated safety equipment and ventilators to Batam hospitals in Riau Islands province to help treat COVID-19 patients.    

Singaporean Consul General in Batam Mark Low handed over 50 hazmat suits and two ventilators to Batam Mayor Muhammad Rudi on Friday as the city braces for a surge of infections.

While Singapore has established a protocol and heightened border surveillance to prevent the further spread of the disease, Indonesia has only started testing suspected patience and taking measures to minimize close contact between people.

“We appreciate the help from the Singapore government. Batam and Singapore have enjoyed a long relationship,” Rudi said at the consulate general office in Batam, which is a mere 70-minute ferry ride from the city-state.

Singapore has mandated quick tests for travelers who arrive at the country’s air, land and water ports with symptoms, as reported by The Straits Times. They must undergo the test even if they do not meet the clinical definition of being a suspected case.  

The two countries were recently involved in a dispute over Indonesians who tested positive for COVID-19 in Singapore. Jakarta accused its neighbor of withholding information about the patient, while the latter insisted in had passed on all the pertinent details to Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry.

Rudi said Singapore was more advanced in its response to the pandemic, while Indonesia had just started plan to construct a hospital exclusively for COVID-19 patients on Galang Island, also located in Riau Islands province.  

Low urged the public to remain on alert as the pandemic seemed to be far from over.

“Life is normal but [people] should be careful and follow instructions from governments,” he said. (The Jakartab Post)

A medical team transports a patient to the isolation ward of the Dr. Kariadi General Hospital (RSUP) during a simulation of a novel coronavirus outbreak in Semarang, Central Java, on Jan. 30. (ANTARA)

Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo has announced that two more people have tested positive for COVID-19, raising the province’s current tally to four confirmed cases.

The administration had previously reported one confirmed case and one death in Surakarta.

“We’ve been monitoring the situation in Central Java. Today, we’ve identified confirmed COVID-19 cases in Central Java. There are two cases: one in Semarang and another in Magelang,” Ganjar said during a press conference on Sunday, adding that the respective patients were being treated at the Dr. Kariadi General Hospital in Semarang and the Tidar General Hospital in Magelang.

He went on to say that the confirmed cases were Indonesian nationals.

The Semarang case is a 63-year-old female, and the Magelang case is a 36-year-old female, according to the governor.

“The two patients have been handled in accordance with the established procedure. [They] are in normal condition and have been recovering. We have instructed hospitals and the Health Agency to conduct contact-tracing on the patients,” Ganjar added.

Central Java Health Agency head Yulianto Prabowo said the agency had conducted contact tracing on the two new cases. Preliminary results showed that the Semarang case had recently visited Bali, he said.

“Meanwhile, the Magelang case has just returned from Malaysia,” Yulianto said.

Ganjar called on the public to assist the local administration in gathering information regarding the spread of COVID-19 throughout the province.

“We have set up a call center for members of the public who wish to pass on information,” Ganjar said.

The local administration has taken several anticipatory measures to mitigate the impact of the public health emergency, he said. Such measures included encouraging social distancing and urging the public to stay home as much as possible.

As of Monday, Indonesia had reported 117 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with five deaths. The spread of the novel coronavirus prompted regional heads in a number of areas, including Jakarta, Banten and West Java, to temporarily close schools and public areas in an effort to contain the virus. (The Jakarta Post)

Some railway officers sprayed disinfectant liquid to prevent the spread of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) at Gambir Station in Jakarta. (ANTARA)

Jakarta – Indonesian Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian has called on regional heads, deputy regional heads, chiefs and members of regional legislative assemblies across Indonesia to postpone their overseas trips to avoid contracting coronavirus or COVID-19 infection.

"It is true (he) calls on all regional heads to postpone their overseas trips," Chief of the Information Center of the Home Affairs Ministry Bahtiar said in a press message text on Sunday.

Tito said the UN World Health Organization (WHO) had declared COVID-19 global pandemic

If the trips are not very urgent, they should postpone them to avoid being exposed to the coronavirus., he said. (ANTARA)

The Indonesian rupiah strengthened against the US dollar in the Jakarta interbank market on Monday morning following the Fed's announcement to slash its interest rate.

The rupiah gained eight points, or 0.05 percent, to trade at Rp14,770 per US dollar at 9:41 a.m. local time on Monday as compared to Rp14,778 per US dollar earlier.

Despite the Indonesian currency strengthening against the US dollar, the rupiah remains vulnerable to depreciation, Monex Investindo Futures Chief Researcher Ariston Tjendra stated in Jakarta on Monday.

"The rupiah is still prone to correction as the other instruments continue to weaken against the US dollar. Some of the Asian share indexes are also susceptible to lying in the negative territory," he stated.

Tjendra remarked that the Fed's decision to slash its interest rate to near-zero percent, coupled with other additional monetary stimuli has not had a positive impact on the money market, particularly risk assets.

"It is likely that the market is still focusing on the coronavirus global pandemic," he stated.

Early this week, the Fed had lowered its interest rate by 100 basis points to 0.25 percent and launched quantitative easing of US$700 billion that is projected to spur the current weak economy.

Tjendra has forecast the rupiah to lie in the range of Rp14,450 to Rp14,560 per US dollar on Monday. (ANTARA)