August 24, 2021
PPKM extended to Aug. 30; Bali remains under Level 4, Java drops to Level 3 + National task force, Bali govt. disagree on vaccination data + Bali must stop deifying foreign tourists says expert + more
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Weather & Tides
Today’s Weather for Southern Bali
Today’s Tides
Meteorology, Climatology & Geophysics Council (Link)
Tide table from Tide-forecast.com.
Local Covid Numbers
*Note: Yesterday Bali recorded its lowest case total since July 6’s 424. The 7-day average, 808, is now the lowest since July 17’s 783. Deaths have remained high however with 66 recorded yesterday, bringing this month’s total to 997.
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, an update on the island’s vaccination program, and the national task force’s risk assessment for each district/city across the country.
The Big News
”Luhut: Bali, Malang, Solo & Yogyakarta Remain at PPKM Level 4“ from CNN Indonesia: The government has determined that the agglomeration areas of Bali, Malang, Solo, and the Special Region of Yogyakarta still have the status of Level 4 Community Activity Restrictions ( PPKM ). Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan said on Monday "But we expect it to drop to Level 3 in the next few weeks with continuous improvements in the handling of Covid, especially in order to promote faster recovery and reduce the death rate". Luhut said four areas in Java had their PPKM status reduced to level 3. "Good news as conveyed by the President, for the period of implementing PPKM Levels 4, 3, and 2 for the period 24-30 August 2021, the Jabodetabek, Bandung, Semarang, and Surabaya areas experienced a decrease in PPKM Level, from Level 4 to Level 3," he said.
Context: We are yet to see reports of the Bali governor’s response to the latest extension of PPKM.Nationwide, PPKM Level 4 has been extended to 34 districts/cities to September 6. Here is the list, however please note that although Bali remains under Level 4, this list does not contain Bali, as it is considered part of the Bali, Malang, Solo and Yogyakarta district grouping.
“Task Force and Bali Provincial Government Disagree on Vaccination Data” from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Due to the emergence of different data on the presentation of vaccination achievements, the Head of the Indonesian Ombudsman Representative for Bali, Umar Ibnu Alkhatab, said the government’s data system is not credible. This is because it refers to the data from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia on Sunday that the vaccination target in Bali was 3,405,130 people. This data is different from the vaccination data issued by the Bali Provincial Health Office and released by the Bali Province Covid-19 Handling Task Force, where the target is actually below the data from the Ministry of Health, which is 2,996,060 people. The Secretary of the Task Force for Handling the Covid-19 in Bali, I Made Rentin, asked for this to be clarified by the Bali Provincial Health Office.
“Bali Must Stop Deifying Foreign Tourists, Expert Says” from Coconuts Bali: An expert from Udayana University says the pandemic is a lesson for the hugely popular holiday destination to grow out of its dependence on foreign tourists. “It’s time Bali stopped deifying foreign tourists, in the future after the pandemic it will be difficult to attract tourists because tourism competition will be even tighter between countries,” Nyoman Sukma Arida, a Tourism Faculty lecturer at Udayana University, said. Sukma said tourism players in the Indonesian province ought to focus on attracting domestic tourists, and to stop discriminating against them. The COVID-19 pandemic is changing people’s traveling patterns, with staycations rising in popularity in the past year. According to Sukma, Bali must tap into this potential in order to support the local tourism industry, such as by developing tourism villages, as people will move away from choosing potentially crowded destinations. In terms of numbers, Indonesian tourists still make up the majority of visitors for the island by a large margin: over 10.5 million Indonesian tourists visited Bali in 2019, while about 4.5 million traveled to the province in 2020.
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Other Headlines
“‘Suitcase Killer’ Heather Mack to Be Released From Bali Jail Early and Freed Next Month” from Agence France-Presse:An American woman convicted with her boyfriend of killing her mother and stuffing the body in a suitcase at a luxury Bali hotel is to be freed from prison early, her lawyer said Monday. In 2015, teenager Heather Mack was handed a 10-year jail term while her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer got 18 years for the murder of Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese Mack. Schaefer beat the 62-year-old victim to death with a fruit bowl during a heated argument at the five-star St. Regis resort, before the couple abandoned the suitcase containing the battered body in a taxi, and fled. The woman, now 25, was set to be released from Bali's Kerobokan prison in October, about three years early, her lawyer said, citing sentence reductions due to good behaviour. Mack, who was 19 at the time of her conviction, would face deportation back to the United States following her release, he added.
Vaccination Update
“Minister Targets Vaccinating 80% Tourism Players by 2021-end“ from Antara: Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno has targeted to vaccinate 80% of the 34 million tourism and creative economy players across Indonesia against COVID-19 by the end of 2021. "Until September, we are targeting 400,000 tourism and creative economy entrepreneurs (to be vaccinated), which means we have to aim for 34,000 to 40,000 people (vaccinated) per day," Uno said on Sunday. "The total number of tourism and creative economy players reaches 34 million, and we are targeting to vaccinate 70 to 80% of the total figure this year," he affirmed. As someone who had earlier contracted COVID-19, Uno admitted to the benefits gained from getting the COVID-19 vaccine. "I am a survivor (of COVID-19), so I really feel that the vaccine is a very effective fortress to contain the transmission of COVID-19," he said.
More...
Nation: “Indonesia Ranked Ninth in the World for Vaccinations” from Bali Post (Indonesian)
Nation: “88 Million Vaccine Doses Provided to Community” from Antara
Nation: “Covid-19 Vaccination for Disabled Accelerated” from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian)
Nation: “Indonesia Receives Five Million Sinovac Vaccines” from Antara
Bangli: “Three Foreigners in Bangli Class II B Detention Center Receive Covid-19 Vaccination“ from iNews Bali (Indonesian)
Health Protocols (Prokes) & Health Services
Nation: ”Death Rate Trend Expected to Increase Over Next Ten Days“ from Bali Post
Nation: “Telemedicine Services to Remain After Pandemic Ends” from Antara
Province: “Demand for Convalescent Plasma for Covid Patients Increases“ from iNews Bali (Indonesian)
Buleleng: “TNI and Residents Clash During Mass Swab” from Radar Bali (Indonesian)
Denpasar: “Recovered Covid-19 Patients in Denpasar Reaches 90.30%” from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian)
Denpasar: “Satpol Nets Dozens of Violators“ from Bali Post (Indonesian)
Gianyar: “BOR Occupancy in Gianyar Begins to Decline“ from Bali Express (Indonesian)
East Nusa Tenggara: “Labuan Bajo Doesn't Have PCR Test Kits” from Republika (Indonesian)
East Nusa Tenggara: “Eligible Residents Get Free PCR Tests” from Tempo
Economy & Infrastructure
“Sandiaga Uno Asks Hotel Owners in Bali Not to Sell Assets“ from Nusa Bali (Indonesian): Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno expects hotel owners in Bali to rethink and examine the impact of selling their property assets to the marketplace. “Do not let domestic entrepreneurs become the losers because they sell assets." said Sandiaga on Monday. He said that Bali was one of the provinces most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, because around 54% of Bali's economy was highly dependent on the tourism sector. This also has an impact on the level of occupancy or occupancy of the hotel, so that hotel industry players are forced to sell their assets. He explained that his party had submitted a fund of Rp 300 billion to the National Economic Recovery Covid-19 Handling Committee (KPC-PEN) to roll out a program to support accommodation and other supporting facilities for health workers. This program is said to involve a number of hotels as health worker facilities. "Hopefully in the near future we can realize it," he said.
More...
Province: “Bali Tourism Workers Pivot to Maggot Cultivation and Profit Millions of Rupiah per Month” from iNews Bali (Indonesian)
Gianyar: “Sate Stick Maker Left Miserable Thanks to PPKM” from Bali Express (Indonesian)
Klungkung:“Abalone Begins to Be Developed on Nusa Lembongan” from Bali Post (Indonesian)
“Students Demonstrate at Governor's Office, Provincial Government Covid Incompetent“ from iNews Bali(Indonesian): Dozens of students who are members of the Student Executive Board (BEM) from across Bali held a demonstration in front of the Bali Governor's Office on Monday afternoon. Students stated that the Bali Provincial Government was incompetent in handling Covid-19 cases. The student demonstration, which initially ran in an orderly and peaceful manner, almost ended in chaos after officers asked the crowd to disperse as they did not have a permit. The coordinator of the action, Muhamad Nofriyansah Kusumahpratama said that the demonstration was carried out because the activists had several times submitted hearings to the Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, but were always rejected. "Because we never received a response, we ended up holding a demonstration," he said.
“Juliari Gets 12 Years' Jail for Covid-19 Aid Bribery” from The Jakarta Post (Metered Paywall): Judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court handed down a harsher sentence for former social affairs minister Juliari P. Batubara than that demanded by prosecutors, after he was found guilty of accepting bribes from private vendors that supplied COVID-19 food aid. Antigraft activists say that the former minister should have received a heavier sentence, given the severity of his crime, and criticized the Corruption Eradication Commission for not pursuing a harsher punishment. On Monday, the judges sentenced Juliari to 12 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp 500 million (US$34,731). “The defendant, Juliari P. Batubara, has been found guilty of committing corruption along with other parties in accordance with the [prosecutors’] charge,” Judge Muhammad Damis who presided over the panel said on Monday. The bench found the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle member guilty of accepting up to Rp 32.48 billion in bribes from vendors supplying COVID-19 food aid packages. The bribes were collected by former subordinates of Juliari at the ministry on his behalf. The subordinates were allegedly instructed by Juliari to vet suppliers for the government’s COVID-19 social aid packages and charge a Rp 10,000 fee for each package supplied by the approved vendors.
Some Covid Context
“US FDA Grants Full Approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine“ from The New York Times: The Food and Drug Administration on Monday granted full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for people 16 and older, making it the first to move beyond emergency-use status in the United States. In a nine-minute speech Monday afternoon, President Biden said he hopes the development will motivate many of the roughly 85 million unvaccinated Americans who are eligible for shots to get them. He told corporate, state and local leaders: “Do what I did last month. Require your employees to get vaccinated or face strict requirements” such as frequent testing. He cast Pfizer’s approval as a sign of the overall progress he said his administration is making against the pandemic. While he acknowledged that the death rate, now averaging about 1,000 new deaths a day, has been climbing, he said the toll is still far lower what it was last winter because the vast majority of elderly people are vaccinated.
Context: It has also been reported that full approval could help businesses, schools and states enforce vaccine mandates and encourage some hesitant people to get vaccinated.
Of Interest
“Gravediggers' Endless Mental, Physical Challenges Amid Covid-19” from The Jakarta Post
“Many Curious About the Sakah Baby Statue in Gianyar“ from Tribun Bali (Indonesian)
“76 Terror Convicts Declare Loyalty to Indonesia” from Antara
“Sulawesi Chicken Noodle Seller Sues Netizen Over Video Alleging Dish Contained Rat“ from Coconuts Jakarta
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 with Bali Solidarity. If you know of an effort and would like to have them listed, please send their information to TheBaliBeat@outlanders.global.
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