December 14, 2021
Java-Bali PPKM extended to Jan. 3 + People urged to restrict holiday travel to domestic destinations + 1.5 meter flash flood hits Nusa Penida + 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.
Daily Covid Update
National Figures
Local Figures
The Big News
“PPKM Java-Bali Extended Until Jan. 3 2022” from Bali Bisnis (Indonesian): The government has resumed the policy of implementing PPKM level 1-3 in Java-Bali for three weeks starting from December 14, 2021 to January 3, 2022. "Details regarding this information will be conveyed through the Ministry of Home Affairs which will take effect over the next three weeks," said Coordinator of Java-Bali PPKM Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan on Monday. Luhut said the implementation of PPKM showed a fairly stable trend, evidenced by the Covid-19 cases which are still at a fairly low level. Based on the results of the assessment until December 11, he said there were only 10 regencies/cities in Java-Bali which were at level 3 or 7.8% of the total 128 regencies/cities in Java-Bali.
“People Urged to Restrict Travel to Domestic Destinations” from Antara: Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, has urged the public to spend the upcoming holidays at domestic destinations to prevent the transmission of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. He cautioned people against traveling abroad for the Christmas and New Year holidays, saying the Omicron variant has the ability to spread very quickly. According to airport operator PT Angkasa Pura, the number of flights leaving for overseas destinations has increased by up to twofold compared to earlier, he said. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has confirmed that the transmission of the variant has not been detected in Indonesia to date.
“1.5 Meter Flash Flood Hits Nusa Penida” from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Flash floods as high as 1.5 meters hit Suana Village, Nusa Penida, and submerged residents' houses. This was confirmed by the Head of Suana Bekel, Nusa Penida District, Putu Rai Sudarta. He said that it had been raining heavily in the area since 24:00, but it only lasted for a short time and then subsided. Heavy rain fell again at 02.00 but only briefly. "Compared to the previous days, it was still raining heavily the previous days," he said. However, suddenly, there was a flood in the early morning that passed through the Karang Sari River. The water was so high that the water hit residential areas and washed away people's property in Karang Sari Hamlet, Suana Village. "30 families were affected by this flood," he said.
Context: Dozens of houses and vehicles were washed away (Indonesian) and considerable damage done to Crystal Bay (Indonesian), a popular destination for tourists. The flash flood has been described as the worst in 25 years (Indonesian). The flooding has also impacted on fresh water supplies (Indonesian).
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Other Headlines
“Dozens of Buleleng Villages Enter Rabies Red Zone” from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Apart from the COVID-19 virus, residents must remain vigilant against cases of rabid or rabid dog bites, because, in Bali there are still cases of rabies. The data obtained, cases of mad dogs are currently spreading in dozens of villages in Buleleng district, Bali. Among them, the villages of Lokapaksa, Gerokgak, Sinabun, Sudaji, Suwug, Jinengdalem, Kubuaddan, Pucaksari, Ularan, Sambangan, Pangkungparuk, Bondalem, Bebetin, Sawan, Baktiseraga, Penarukan, Bontihing, Selat, Banyuning, Depeha, and Pemaron villages. Unfortunately again, the scope of service for the realization of vaccination for Rabies Spreading Animals is apparently not optimal. So far, it only covers 25.8%. In fact, from year to year, the realization of rabies vaccination can exceed 80%.
Vaccination Update
“Health Ministry Prioritizes Sinovac for Children Aged 6-11” from Antara: The Health Ministry will prioritize the use of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine solely for children in the age bracket of six to 11 years from January 2022. "We encourage the use of the Sinovac vaccine for children aged 6-11 years," Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Vaccination Spokesperson, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said on Monday. Tarmizi explained that currently, Sinovac vaccine was the sole COVID-19 vaccine to have obtained an emergency-use permit from the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency for COVID-19 vaccination for children in the age group of six to 11 years.
More...
Nation: “Indonesia Receives 3.5 Million Pfizer Vaccines” from Antara
Health Protocols (Prokes) & Health Services
“Minister Highlights Decline in Pedulilindungi Use in Java-Bali” from Antara: The utilization of the PeduliLindungi application on Java and Bali islands has declined quite significantly, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment and coordinator of Java-Bali PPKM, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, has revealed. "This week, 74% of district and cities in Java and Bali experienced a downward trend in the use of the PeduliLindungi check-in (feature) compared to last week," he said on Monday. "I urge all regional governments and stakeholders to massively enforce the use of PeduliLindungi in those three sectors to ensure those who do their activities in public (places) are healthy," Pandjaitan said.
Context: On the same day, media quoted Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno as saying the use of the Pedulilindungi application was going well (Indonesian).
More...
Nation: “Health Minister Seeks to Curb Outbound Medical Tourism” from The Jakarta Post (Metered Paywall)
Nation: “Luhut: People Who Run From Quarantine We Will Bury!” from Detik (Indonesian)
Province: “Ahead of Christmas and New Year, Bali Entrance to Gilimanuk Tightened” from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian)
Economy & Infrastructure
“Laid Off Bartenders Choose to Mix and Sell Arak, New Graduates Struggle for Experience” from Tribun Bali (Indonesian): Thousands of tourism workers in Bali have been laid off during the Covid-19 pandemic. I Wayan Bayu Hendra as Chairman of the Indonesian Bartenders Association explained about the fate of the bartenders, both those who had worked and those who had just graduated. "Actually, if they are looking for it now, it will be a challenge when they will be directly involved or directly involved in the industrial world or they will start training or enter the real industry and indeed there are currently many obstacles," he said on Monday. Meanwhile, for bartenders who used to work but are currently laid off, many are looking for opportunities to trade or sell something that they can create. So most of the bartenders process arak to be mixed and sold door to door, but not in bulk.
More...
Nation: “3.43 Million Airplane Passengers Nationwide in November 2021” from CNN Indonesia (Indonesian)
Province: “Chili Prices Hit IDR 70,000 per Kg, Tomatoes IDR 6,000 per Kg” from Nusa Bali (Indonesian)
Bali Reopening
“Domestic Tourists to Bali Exceed 11,000, International Flights Still Zero” from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): The arrival rate of domestic tourists to Bali is increasing. As of Sunday, domestic arrivals had reached 11,000 people. This increase was confirmed by the Head of Public Relations of the Denpasar Police, Iptu Ketut Sukadi, on Monday. According to him, based on domestic and international flight data at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, on Sunday, there was an increase in domestic arrivals, reaching 11,662 people. However, he said this increase in domestic tourists was not followed by the arrival of international flights, which until Sunday were still nil.
“Bali Beautification Project Underway For G20” from Antara: Bali Governor I Wayan Koster announced a beautification project is underway to prepare Bali as the main host of the G20 agendas in Indonesia. Besides preparing the route for the delegates, the authority in Balialso is committed to planting 12 million mangrove tree saplings for the delegates of G20 member countries and beautifying residents' houses and stalls along the route the delegates will pass through, he said. “I am personally involved in the beautification project, and I have instructed architects from Udayana University to conceive the design that must be finalised by the end of December, so we can proceed with construction in January,” Koster said.
Context: In related beautification news, villages in front of the Mandalika track on Lombok are to be “arranged and tidied up” (Indonesian).
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Of Interest
“Earthquake Hits East Java, Vibrations Felt in Bali” from Bali Post (Indonesian)
“Eight Turtles Found Trapped in Garbage on Southern Bali Beaches” from Kumparan (Indonesian)
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How You Can Help Bali
Due to the collapse of the tourism sector in Bali, tens of thousands of families have found themselves with a greatly reduced income—if any. If you’d like to support organizations working to help those in need, you can see a list of some here.
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