VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Landing Craft Utility (LCU), KRI Dr. Soeharso , transported Indonesian crew members of the World Dream cruise ship to be observed on Sebaru Island, Thousand Islands, Jakarta, Friday (2/28/2020).

Jakarta - Sixty-seven Indonesian crew members working on the Diamond Princess cruise ship were confirmed to have tested negative for the Covid-19 coronavirus infection.

"Out of 69 specimens, 67 were confirmed obviously negative," government spokesman for the management of Coronavirus, Achmad Yurianto, said during a press conference at the Ministry of Health in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Yurianto, the Secretary of the Directorate General of Prevention and Control of Disease (P2P) at the Ministry of Health, said the government still is examining two specimens.

The 69 Indonesians had been undergoing a 14-day quarantine period aboard the Diamond Princess and were declared as being free of infection by Japanese health officials.

However, Indonesian health authorities plan to re-examine 69 Indonesian crew members who were aboard the Diamond Princess.

The 69 Indonesian crew members from the Diamond Princess were kept in quarantine on the island of Sebaru.

Meanwhile, the results of examinations of the 188 Indonesian crew members aboard the World Dream cruise ship were confirmed as being negative.

The Indonesian Government had earlier chosen Sebaru Kecil Island in Jakarta's Thousand Islands as the coronavirus (COVID-19)-related quarantine site for 188 Indonesians from the World Dream liner’s crew who had been repatriated one week ago.

In the face of the outbreak, Dream Cruises had earlier announced that departures of several of its cruise ships were suspended and many crew members, including 188 Indonesians employed on the World Dream cruise ship, were sent home.

The outbreak, which initially struck the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019, forced several airlines, including national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, to suspend direct flights to and from mainland China.

In another development, two Indonesians who had tested positive for COVID-19 have been identified as residents of Depok City, West Java, a neighboring area of the capital Jakarta, Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto reported on Monday.

The patients – a 64-year-old woman and her 31-year-old daughter – had contracted the virus from a Japanese national who had visited Indonesia and was in close contact with them.

The Japanese tested positive while in Malaysia, after leaving Indonesia.

This deadly virus has killed nearly 3,000 people worldwide, most of whom live in China, and infected over 88,400 people worldwide. (ANTARA)

Jakarta (VOI News) - COVID-19 epidemic does not recognize limitation and time. Since the first case was found at the end 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, until now the outbreak of COVID-19 reaches countries in the Middle East, Asian until Eurpean regions. Italy becomes the country with the most cases of COVID-19 in the European regions. The case has been sticking out to the public since 34 people died due to COVID-19 on February 21.  On February 24, the government of Italy officially closed 10 cities, among others Lombardy and Veneto, which is one of the cities with the highest COVID-19 cases. 

Many of Indonesian citizens are living  in Italy. Based on data of Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry, at least there are 2,864 Indonesian citizens at a number of cities in Italy and five of them domiciled in Lombardy.  Director of Europe I of the Directorate General of America and Europe at the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry, Ida Bagus Made Bimantara, said in Jakarta, on Tuesday (3/3/2020), that there is no Indonesian citizen infected Covid-19.

“There is no Indonesian citizen infected Covid-19 in Italy today,” said Ida Bagus.

Ida Bagus added that Indonesian representatives in Italy proactively gives various appeals and the latest report on development of COVID-19 through various media platforms. Indonesian embassy in Rome proactively delivers information on Indonesian citizens’ security and safety, either through social media or other conventional media..// (KBRN/RETNO/trans-yati/AHM)

President Joko Widodo has called for the privacy and identity of COVID-19 patients to be protected, following two confirmed cases, thus far, in Indonesia.

"In regard to the two patients, Case-1 and Case-2, I have ordered the Minister to remind the hospital, so that government officials do not breach the privacy of patients," said President Joko Widodo, during a press conference at the Merdeka Palace Veranda in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He was accompanied by Minister of State Secretariat Pratikno. Jokowi said that all parties need to respect ethics codes and patients' personal rights.

For that reason, their identities need to be protected and should never be released to the public, reflecting the role of ethics in communicating.

"Media also need to respect their privacy, so that their psychological state is not affected and they can soon return home and be cured," he said.

As previously reported, two Indonesian nationals from Depok, West Java, were confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 after checking themselves into a hospital, after suffering from fevers.

The two cases became the first in Indonesia, to which the President refers to as Case-1 and Case-2.

The identity of both Indonesians have been published across social media and are now available to the public. For that reason, the President asked officials to protect future patients.

At the same time, he encouraged the public to take measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through practicing healthy living habits.

He also ensured the public that the government continues to take maximum efforts to prevent the spread of the virus. (ANTARA)

Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita. (ANTARA)

Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita is optimistic of Indonesia's industry sector investment growth after the IHS Markit released Indonesia's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) at 51.9 on February, an increase from January's reading of 49.3. Indonesia's PMI had been contracted for seven straight months since June 2019, and the increase in February's reading above 50 points has indicated expansion in the manufacturing sector.

"Based on the report, we are optimistic about investors' confidence in the industry sector. They also see that the business climate in Indonesia remains conducive," Kartasasmita said in a statement in Jakarta Monday.

Indonesia's Manufacturing PMI in February was boosted by new businesses and acceleration in output expansion that required companies to recruit more workers and increase purchasing activities, according to IHS Markit.

The IHS Markit Indonesia Manufacturing PMI measures the performance of the manufacturing sector and is derived from a survey of 400 manufacturing companies, divided into eight categories namely base metal, chemical and plastic, electricity and optical, food and beverages, machinery, textile and garment, wood and paper, and transportation.

The Index is based on five individual indexes namely new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery times, and stock of items purchased, with the delivery times index inverted so that it moves in a comparable direction.

A reading above 50 indicates an expansion of the manufacturing sector compared to the previous month; below 50 represents a contraction; while 50 indicates no change.

Previously, the minister has expressed optimism that non-oil and gas industry performance in the first quarter of 2020 would still be in the expansion phase, hence it would need strategic moves to drive the sector's global competitiveness.

"Among the strategic moves is maintaining the adequacy of raw material and energy for production continuity in industry," he said.

The ministry has also focused on a program to promote the use of domestic products and encourage investment in the sector through simplification of licensing, promotion and incentive.

"In the next five years, we have identified an investment plan in 81 projects in industry sector worth Rp921 trillion and will absorb 125 thousand workers," he said.

The strategic moves would help Indonesia to reach its target of 5.3 percent of non-oil and gas industry growth in 2020 that will give 17.8 percent contribution to the national Gross Domestic Production in the year, Kartasasmita said.

Export of industrial products is expected to contribute 72.2 percent to the national export in 2020.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's manufacturing sector has shown tentative improvement in February, marking the first growth in factory activity in eight months, Head of IHS Markit economist Bernard Aw said.

However, the increased index is still affected by negative shocks in the supply chain.

"There are worries over the supply chain. Data of the survey showed a sharp decline in suppliers' performance for almost three years, often linked to torrential rains and declining raw material supply from China due to the coronavirus outbreak," he said.

If such a condition persists, companies would need to work harder to increase the production volume amid the input scarcity.

The coronavirus outbreak has severely hit manufacturing performance in some Asian countries after it crushed the sector's activity in China, he admitted.

South Korea and Japan have shown a sharp drop in production, based on the IHS Markit survey.

South Korea's PMI dropped to its lowest level in four months at 48.7 in February, from 49.8 in January. Japan's index declined to 47.8 according to Japan's Jibun Bank, the lowest level since May 2016.

In Southeast Asia, the index for Thailand and Malaysia remained at below 50, while Vietnam declined to its lowest level for six years to 49. The data has indicated that the coronavirus outbreak has affected the Asian region, disturbed the supply chain and undermined demand. (ANTARA)