December 16, 2021
Vaccinations for children aged 6-11 begin across Bali + Postponement of school holidays cancelled + Badung to buy excavators to clean beaches + more
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Daily Covid Update
National Figures
Local Figures
The Big News
“Vaccinations for Children Aged 6-11 Years Begin” from Bali Express (Indonesian): The government has officially started the Covid-19 vaccination for children aged 6 to 11 years. In Gianyar, vaccinations for ages 6-11 years is carried out at 26 points spread across all sub-districts in Gianyar Regency. One of them was held at SDN 1 Gianyar, Wednesday. The Principal of SDN 1 Gianyar, Puji Wirdani, explained that the Covid-19 vaccination was given to students from grades 1 to grade VI, whose average age was 6 to 11 years. With a total of 573 students at SDN 1 Gianyar being vaccinated. Meanwhile, the Head of the Gianyar Regency Health Office, dr. Ida Komang Upeksa explained that the vaccine used for vaccination aged 6-11 years was the Sinovac vaccine. The target in Gianyar Regency is 40,787 children, with details of 21,031 boys and 19,756 girls.
Context: With vaccinations for children commencing yesterday, there were news stories like the above from across Bali, including Jembrana (Indonesian), Denpasar (Indonesian), Karangasem (Indonesian), Badung (Indonesian), Bangli (Indonesian), and Buleleng (Indonesian).
“Postponement of School Holidays Cancelled” from Bali Post (Indonesian): The central government's policy regarding the postponement of student holidays until January 2022 has been canceled, the semester break is returned according to the existing educational calendar. This was conveyed by Plt. Denpasar Education and Youth Head, IGN Eddy Mulya on Wednesday. This means student holidays will remain as before, namely after receiving report cards. Denpasar is scheduled to receive the report card on 18 December. The cancellation of the postponement of the school holiday follows the issuance of a circular from the Secretary General of the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education Number 32 of 2021 concerning the Implementation of Learning Ahead of the 2021 Christmas and New Year's Holidays 2022.
“Badung to Buy Loaders and Excavators to Help Clean Beaches” from Bali Prawara (Indonesian): The Regent of Badung, Nyoman Giri Prasta, expressed his gratitude to the Badung Regency Environmental and Hygiene Service and their staff. The reason is, since the garbage appeared and filled the Berawa Beach area from the last four days, the Badung DLHK team has moved by mobilizing the strength of the existing personnel and fleet to handle the garbage. “Currently, we are directly reviewing the field together with the Head of Police and the Head of the Sector Police and their ranks to mingle with our staff at DLHK, to experience cleaning up waste directly, because we have full responsibility for handling this waste," said Regent Giri Prasta on Wednesday. He also said that Badung Regency Government has confirmed it will add a fleet of garbage cleaners such as loaders, excavators and trash chopping cars.
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Other Headlines
“Gamelan is an Intangible Cultural Heritage: UNESCO Committee” from Antara: The 16th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, held in Paris, France, on 15th December, recognized gamelan as Intangible Cultural Heritage. “The gamelan inscription, nominated by Indonesia since 2019, has become Indonesia's 12th cultural heritage acknowledged by UNESCO,” Indonesia's Ambassador for France, Andorra, Monako, Mohamad Oemar, said on Wednesday. UNESCO recognized the philosophical value of gamelan as a medium for cultural expression and building connections between humankind and the universe. Education, Culture, Research and Technology Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim said he is proud as gamelan has been recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. “The art of gamelan continues to be studied, developed and passed on from generation and generation since its introduction,” he said.
Vaccination Update
“Health Ministry Finalizing 2022 Booster Scheme” from Tempo: The Indonesian health ministry is finalizing the nationwide booster dose vaccination scheme, which is planned to be introduced for the public as early as January 2022. "The policy is not final yet, you will have to wait," said the Health Ministry's vaccination spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmizi on Wednesday. Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said there will be two scenarios in disbursing the booster vaccine doses. One will be providing the vaccines to non-senior citizens cash aid recipients, where the vaccinations' costs will be covered by the government. Another is the paid-booster doses. "We will open that so pharmaceutical firms can import the vaccines and sell them to the public, which is hoped to introduce balance and accessibility," said Budi on Tuesday.
Context: News broke yesterday of private firms being permitted to import and sell vaccines, though it was not made clear that this would be in regard to the booster program.
More...
Nation: “Indonesia Receives Astrazeneca Vaccines From Australia” from Antara
Nation: “Vaccination Rate Has Surpassed WHO Target” from Antara
Nation: “Child Vaccinations Help Stem Covid-19 Transmission” from Antara
Denpasar: “North Denpasar Police Invite Elderly for Vaccination” from Nusa Bali (Indonesian)
Health Protocols (Prokes) & Health Services
“Covid-19 Task Force Gives Stern Warning For Quarantine Violators” from Tempo: National Covid-19 task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito said that the task force will not take lightly against anyone who violates Indonesia's quarantine rules and will not hesitate to punish violators. Wiku pledged that the task force will closely monitor quarantine facilities for international visitors to prevent people from escaping such facilities before serving the entirety of their quarantine. "If anyone decides not to be cooperative, there will be sanctions overseen under Article 14 of the Infectious Disease Outbreak Law and Article 93 of the Health Quarantine Law," said Wiku on Wednesday. Wiku Adisasmito said that the current situation regarding the spread of a new Covid-19 variant Omicron makes health quarantine more important than ever as it prevents imported cases from spreading in Indonesia.
Context: In related news, the spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccinations at the Health Ministry confirmed that echelon 1 and upper ranks of public officials would be permitted to skip official quarantine entirely and instead self-quarantine at home.
More...
Nation: “Indonesia Among Countries With Low Covid Transmission Risk” from Antara
Nation: “Covid-19 Teaching Importance of Health Sector Resilience” from Antara
Buleleng: “New Year's Eve Celebration, Green Open Spaces in Buleleng Closed” from Radar Bali (Indonesian)
Tabanan: “Police Chief Threatens to Disband Crowds Over Christmas and New Year’s” from Radar Bali (Indonesian)
Economy & Infrastructure
“Indonesia’s Rebound From Pandemic Quicker Than 97-98 Crisis” from Antara: The Indonesian economy was able to recover faster from the pandemic than the 1997-1998 crisis, which took four years to rebound from, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said. "During COVID-19, within 1.5 years, our economy has been able to return to the (level seen in the) pre-pandemic period," she said on Wednesday. The recovery from the pandemic was driven by the resilience of the financial and business sector, as well as responsive government instruments and policies, she said. On the job creation side, Indonesia has managed to reduce unemployment in the last 12 months from 7.1% to 6.5%, she said. "These are economic recovery steps that can be directly felt by the community," the minister said.
More...
Nation: “NTB Ferry Operator Asks for Tariff Increase” from Republika (Indonesian)
Klungkung: “Bad Weather, Salt Farmers in Klungkung Grimace” from Nusa Bali (Indonesian)
Bali Reopening
“Tourism Actors Asked Not to Demo and Take to the Street” from Bali Post (Indonesian): A number of tourism actors have been summoned by Bali Governor Wayan Koster, to discuss the steps to recover tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Deputy Chairman of PHRI Bali, in order to maintain the image of Bali welcoming the G20 Presidency, Bali tourism stakeholders are asked to be patient, not to take to the streets and demonstrate. "But don't let the demonstrations carried out by tourism stakeholders actually tarnish the image of Bali tourism," he said on Tuesday. The high domestic tourist arrivals in the last two months, he said, were not enough to fill 146,000 rooms in Bali. However, he is optimistic that with the implementation of PPKM Level 2, the room occupancy rate will reach 50-60% during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
More...
“The Three Obstacles for Foreign Tourists to Enter Bali” from Bali Bisnis (Indonesian)
“Beach Merchants Expect Many Tourists Over Christmas and New Year’s” from Bali Express (Indonesian)
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Of Interest
“346 Houses Destroyed, 770 Evacuated After NTT Quake” from Antara
“25 Indonesian Citizens on Capsized Boat in Malaysia Have Not Been Found” from Antara Bali (Indonesian)
“Beware of Heavy Rain and Thunderstorms, BMKG Issues Early Warning” from Radar Bali (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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