April 27, 2021
Tourism minister hands power to open tourist sites during Eid to local governments + Bali has received 19% of required 6 million vaccine doses + Indonesia confirms 10 cases of India variant + more!
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Weather & Waves
Today’s Weather for Southern Bali
Today’s Tides
Meteorology, Climatology & Geophysics Council (Link)
Tide table from Tide-forecast.com.
Local Covid Numbers
*Note: New Covid-19 cases climbed up again yesterday, but only to 105 after Sunday's low of 66. Sunday was Manis Kuningan, the day after the Hindu holiday of Kuningan. As we've seen throughout the pandemic, reported cases decrease around both major Hindu and national holidays.
Click here to see the national numbers infographic and a Regency-by-Regency breakdown of yesterday’s local numbers. And in case you missed it, check out Sunday’s update for a summary of last week’s overall totals, with perspective on how they stack up against previous weeks + detailed breakdowns of the virus’ spread on a Regency-by-Regency level.
The Big News
"Menparekraf Hands Over the Opening of Tourist Destinations During Eid to the Regions" from Antara Bali (Indonesian): The Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, said, "Opening tourist destinations or not is the authority of local governments, in accordance with the rate of Covid-19 transmission in their respective regions.” Regarding tourism activities, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy provided a number of guidelines to be applied in the regions. Minister Sandiaga hopes that the cases of Covid-19 transmission will not increase as sharply as during last year’s Eid homecoming. Despite various tightening measures, blockages, and prohibitions on going home, the cases continued to soar by 94%.
"Target of 3 Million, Vaccinations in Bali as of April 26, 2021 Have Reached This Percentage" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): The target population of Bali to be vaccinated is about 70% of Bali's population of around 4.3 million people. The amount of vaccine needed is as many as 6 million doses for 2 injections. The number of vaccines that have been received up until April 22, 2021 is 1,141,110 doses or about 19% of the required 6 million doses. The number of vaccines that have been allocated to Bali is the highest percentage in Indonesia. The number of people who had the Phase I vaccine was 696,356 people (23.2%) and the Phase II vaccine was 216,429 people (7.2%).
"Indonesia Confirms 10 Covid Cases of India Variant" from The Jakarts Globe: The news came two days after the government banned foreign visitors from India for coronavirus fears. The variant - formally known as B.1.617 - is blamed for a dramatic surge in new cases in India where more than 340,000 new cases were reported in a single day at its peak. It was first detected in October last year and has spread in more than 20 countries. Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that of the 10 infected persons, six have contracted the variant in foreign countries but he didn’t go into details. The remaining four cases were locally transmitted in Sumatra, West Java and South Kalimantan.
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Other Headlines
"A Turkish Citizen Suddenly Admits He Has Lost Thousands of Dollars From a Villa Safe" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): The alleged theft occurred at The Cove Villa in West Selemadeg, Tabanan, on Saturday night (25/4). The victim admitted he lost USD 2400 (Rp. 33,600,000). Head of the Selemadeg Sector Police Kompol I Kadek Ardika confirmed the incident. But strangely, when his party established a crime scene, there were no signs of theft because the safe and the villa door were not damaged. "We also did not find other people's fingerprints," he said. So far his party had not concluded this was a theft case. "Cases of admitting loss often occur because they are usually used for insurance matters, which may require a loss report.”
Vaccination Update
"Indonesia Receives 3.8 Million Astrazeneca Shots Under Covax Scheme" from Antara: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, said the first shipment batch through the COVAX facility was received by Indonesia on March 3 (2021), with a total of 1.1 million doses. With the receipt of the second batch of vaccines on Monday, the total number of vaccines the country has procured under the COVAX scheme has reached 4,965,600 doses. Combined with the vaccines procured through bilateral cooperation, the number of vaccine doses received by Indonesia so far has reached 67,465,600.
More...
Nation: "A Total of 11,844,579 People Have Been Vaccinated Against Covid-19" from Antara Bali (Indonesian)
Buleleng: "Low Stock, Task Force Proposes for Additional 20,000 Doses of Vaccines" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian)
Denpasar: "Becoming a Buffer for Sanur Tourism, Renon Residents Undergo Mass Vaccination" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian)
Denpasar: "Vaccination Queues Booming at the Bali Provincial DPRD Wantilan, Suarjaya: Especially for Public Officers" from Tribun Bali (Indonesian)
Gianyar: "Gianyar Vaccination for the Elderly, Optimizing the Banjar System" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian)
Health Protocols (Prokes) & Patrols
Nation: "‘Haunted’ Abandoned Prison in East Java Being Prepped to House Mudik Ban Violators" from Coconuts Jakarta
Island: "Increasing Community Activities, Governor Koster Reminds To Keep Following Prokes" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian)
Denpasar: "Yustisi Denpasar Team Nets Prokes Offenders at Micro PPKM" from Antara Bali (Indonesian)
Economy & Infrastructure
Nation: "Indonesia Posts 4.3% Rise in Investment Realization in 2021 Q1" from Antara
Nation: "Indonesia is World's Largest Biodiesel Producer: Hartarto" from Antara
Island: "Bali Tourism Business Actors Hope That Soft Loans Will Soon Be Within Reach" from Bisnis Bali (Indonesian)
Island: "Hundreds of Villages in Bali Are Prone to Tsunamis, But Only 9 Have Sirens" from Bali Post (Indonesian)
Badung: "Badung Cannot Fund Medical Treatment Outside BPJS Cover" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian)
Buleleng: "The Road to the Port of Celukan is Heavily Damaged" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian)
Education
Jembrana: "Jembrana Suddenly Canceled Face-to-face Learning" from Radar Bali (Indonesian)
"Bali Beware of Increased Tuberculosis" from iNews Bali (Indonesian): Data from the Indonesian Tuberculosis Eradication Association (PPTI) Branch of Denpasar, Bali, revealed that in 2018 TB cases in Bali amounted to 1,384 and increased in 2019 to 1,600 cases. Even though the 2020 total decreased to 1,061 cases, it does not mean that in 2021 cases will decrease. PPTI Denpasar Daily Chairperson IGN Wibawa said, "We hope that the public will understand more about the dangers of tuberculosis. Because so far there are still many people who don't want to get checked out when there are symptoms of TB."
Of Interest
"Papua Intelligence Chief Killed in Weekend Rebel Attack" from The Jakarta Post
"Indonesia Submarine: Navy Releases Video of Crew Singing Farewell Song" from BBC News
"28 Marine Reconnaissance Divers Mobilized to Help Evacuate Crew of KRI Nanggala-402" from iNews (Indonesian)
"Transgender People Applying for Civil Documents Won’t Be Discriminated Against: Home Affairs Ministry" from Coconuts Jakarta
"25 Years of Working, Navicula Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bali Music Awards" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian)
"7 Dolphins in the Mertasari Beach Breeding Site in Sanur Reportedly Abandoned" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian)
How You Can Help
In response to the collapse of the tourism sector in Bali and the resulting economic crisis, dozens of individuals and organizations have sprung into action, raising funds and distributing badly needed food and everyday essentials to the innumerable families who have suddenly found themselves without any source of income. We've been making an effort to document and raise awareness of these efforts. We will add information on projects in this space as we are able to confirm them. If you'd like to see a list of the efforts that we've featured so far and contribute to them with either time or money, visit our complete list here. You can also see a list of projects that have registered themselves at BaliSolidarity.org. If you know of an effort and would like to have them listed, please send their information to TheBaliBeat@outlanders.global.
About This Newsletter
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