Friday, June 5
New Badung checkpoint looks for untested migrants + Klungkung Hospital staff test negative, calming outbreak fears + Crowds of foreigners defy beach closing order in Canggu, overwhelm guards + more!
Good morning! Welcome to the COVID-19 Update for Bali for Friday, June 5 Please subscribe and share it with others in the foreigner community on the island. I happily put this daily newsletter together as a public service, and it will be free so long as the current emergency lasts. *A paid subscription is NOT required to access this content.* When signing up, select the "None" option and you'll get it delivered to your Inbox each day. But if you would like to support my work, please consider taking up a voluntary subscription at US$5/month. Thanks!
Status Update
National Numbers:
Bali Numbers:
New Infections by Regency
Overall Confirmed Cases Distribution:
Key: Red = Infected | Green = Recovered | Black = Died
Bali 30-Day Trends:
More details on the locations of positive cases within each Regency, as well as the number of suspected cases ("ODP") and people under in-patient observation ("PDP"), can be found in charts & infographics on the websites of each Regency's Covid-19 Task Force:
Badung | Bangli | Buleleng | Denpasar City | Gianyar | Jembrana | Karangasem | Klungkung | Tabanan
Sources:
The national update comes from the Indonesia National Disaster Management Agency: @BNPB_Indonesia
The Bali Numbers infographic comes from the Bali Provincial Government COVID-19 Task Force (link).
The Total Confirmed Cases Distribution map & Regency Numbers figures come from the Bali Provincial Government's data collection department (link).
The 30-day trend charts have been compiled using daily government data.
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 fund 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 newsletter@migrationmedia.net.
The Big News
"Checkpoint Set Up In Badung to Prevent Covid-19 from Entering Denpasar" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): To tighten the restrictions on migrants who are determined to enter Bali during the Covid-19 pandemic, and in response to the reported movement of migrants from Java into Bali without proper health certificates, a joint team made up of the TNI - Polri, SatPol PP, Health Office, Transportation Agency all from Denpasar City and Badung Regency, have set up a checkpoint near Mengwi Terminal to monitor vehicles entering Badung. The operation is targeting public and private vehicles. If non-residents are found to not be in possession of a certificate stating that they are free of Covid-19, they will be returned to their respective homes... Head of the Badung Transportation Office (Kadishub), AA Rai Yuda Dharma, said, "We are filtering back in this Mengwi Terminal; if anyone escapes from the upstream (Gilimanuk port), we are coordinated to be returned to the Gilimanuk port," he explained.
"97 Staff At Klungkung Regional Hospital Give Non-Reactive Results to Rapid Test After Exposure to Doctor Who Contracted Covid-19" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian): The first 97 employees out of the group of 157 employees of the Klungkung Regional Hospital who had contact with a cardiologist who fell ill with Covid-19 have undergone rapid testing. All of them were all non-reactive. The final group of 60 employees will take tests throughout the day according to their shifts... In addition, 3 nurses and 1 administrative staff who work in close quarters with the doctor in the cardiac services department have gone into independent quarantine in their homes pending the results of swab tests. [Ed. Note: Their swab tests have since come back negative.]
"Crossing to Nusa Penida Reopens Friday" from The IDN Times (Indonesian): After more than a month closed, the passenger crossing to Nusa Penida through the port on the Kusamba coast has finally opened. The two daily departures will be open to residents holding a Klungkung Identity Card (KTP) and will include strict health protocols, such as a body temperature check, ensuring passengers wash their hands and wear masks, disinfect the fleet routinely, and transport the cargo a maximum of 50% of capacity. Non-residents who wish to cross must show a certificate of rapid test with nonreactive results.
Other Headlines
"Relatives of 12-Year-old Victim Test Negative for Covid-19, GTPP Still Searching for Source of Exposure" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): The results of the swab tests on the parents and aunts of the young Covid-19 victim were declared negative. However, Gianyar's Covid-19 Task Force (GTPP) was still tracing where victim, who has been buried in Serongga setra, had been exposed to Covid-19... Because the results were negative, officers were still tracing the case. "We are still tracking where this child got the Covid-19 virus," said Made Wisnu Wijaya, Chairman Gianyar's Covid-19 Task Force.
"Waiting for Ministry of Education and Culture's Direction, Koster Can Not Ensure When Schools Will Open" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): Koster suspected that there was no directive from the Ministry because until now cases of Covid-19 are increasing in other provinces such as East Java, Central Java, West Java. Although there are no directives to open schools to carry out face-to-face learning, Koster admitted that his party has prepared a new era life order protocol in the education sector... "As soon as (the school) is opened by the Minister of Education and Culture, we will implement it in Bali with the protocol that has been prepared," he said. In the meantime, student learning in Bali will continue to be done using online methods.
"Tourists Flock to Batu Bolong Beach, Overwhelming Perbekel” from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): Crowds of foreign and local tourists crowded Batu Bolong Canggu Beach in North Kuta whether, ignoring the banner indicating that the beach was closed, with many of them not wearing cloth masks and not practicing physical distancing... "I need to clarify for foreign guests who surf here, it is not permissible for us to open the beach. The beach is not yet open," said the Perbekel of Canggu I Village, Nengah Lana. He conveyed that he has limited officers and there are many accesses points to the beach so his officers were overwhelmed. "We follow the direction of the Government's policy and we are still closing the beach. Limited officers were overwhelmed in the field to guard. Many tourists played 'cat and mouse' with officers. If we guard in the east, they enter in the west; if we guard in the middle, they enter in the east," added Nengah Lana.
"Couple That Escaped from Hospital After Reactive Rapid Test Is Secured" from iNews Bali (Indonesian): A team from Bali's Covid-19 Task Force has secured a married couple and a friend who escaped from Udayana University Hospital (Unud) after they learned of the wife's reactive rapid test. They were secured on Wednesday night at their respective homes. After being secured, the three of them were immediately taken to the quarantine location at Wisma Bima. Not only did the wife take a swab test, but her husband and partner also took the swab test.
"Bali Tourism Officials Push Back Against Swab Test Requirements During 'New Normal'" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): "Don't burden us; tourism sector players are already dying with too-strict terms and regulations. Even if there are many tourists traveling, there will not be many who will come [to Bali], especially with the added burden of conditions such as the expensive PCR Swab test," said Wayan S., one of Bali's tourism actors. According to him, the price of a PCR swab test per person is around Rp 2.5 million, and when added to the cost of expensive tickets, this makes a trip quite expensive. "Ticket prices are already expensive. If you add the expensive price of a Covid-19 test, who will want to travel?" said Wayan.
Non-Covid News of Note
"No Positive Rabies Cases Detected In Gianyar During Month Of May" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): From the beginning of May to the beginning of June 2020, positive cases of rabies in Gianyar Regency were declared non-existent or nil. This was conveyed by the Head of the Agriculture Service of the Regency of Gianyar, I Made Raka. "From the data we have, from the beginning of May until now there are no positive cases of rabies," he said... It was said by Made Raka, that it was undeniable, the case of dog bites did indeed occur in several places. However, after doing a lab check on the dog bite victims did not show positive results of rabies. "There must be cases of bites, especially since there are still many stray dogs. But now when the bite victim is checked by a lab, the result is rabies negative," he said.
Resources
Important information for foreigners who are staying on the island, such as designated COVID-19 hospitals and emergency contact numbers, can be found by following this link.
The government has cancelled its visa-on-arrival process and rolled out enhanced entry requirements for people traveling to Indonesia; they have also granted automatic extensions to most foreigners who are still in the country on temporary stay visas. You can see a (translated) list of all of the relevant regulations on the Directorate General of Immigration & Ministry of Law and Human Rights' website here.
The British Embassy in Jakarta has recently posted a great summary of the Indonesian government's travel restrictions on their Facebook page. You can read it here.
If you are trying to plan travel anywhere, here are some of the best up-to-date resources that can help you:
IATA Travel Center Update - The International Air Transport Association is the global lobbying body for the aviation industry. Their Travel Information Manual Automatic (Timatic) database feeds into airlines' reservation systems, so it is the most reliable list of flight restrictions around.
Revolver Maps' Travel Restrictions Database - This list pulls directly from IATA's Timatic database and arranges the countries in lists that are easier to navigate and creates share-able links for every country. NOTE: This is a third-party service and they warn that the updates to their system can be delayed by several hours for certain countries.
Al Jazeera Travel Restriction & Border Shutdown Tracker - A companion list that includes less technical summaries of each country's travel restrictions, beyond just flights and airport access.
Common abbreviations to be familiar with:
PMI: Indonesian migrant worker
PSBB: Policy of extreme social distancing. Officially restricts forms of transportation and prohibits certain types of business from operating. Requires any permitted businesses to enforce strict social distancing guidelines.
OTG: Possible cases, with no symptoms.
ODP: Suspected cases, being monitored. People with fever or respiratory symptoms such as congestion, sore throat, cough, travel in countries or areas with local transmission, or contact with a confirmed case of Covid-19. Tracked and placed under out-patient observation.
PDP: Probable cases, under observation. People with acute respiratory illness with at least one symptom such as cough, sore throat, congestion, light or heavy pneumonia, and travel in countries or areas with local transmission, or contact with a confirmed case of Covid-19. Usually placed under observation in an isolation ward at a designated hospital pending swab testing results.
About This Newsletter
This newsletter is a product of Migration Media, the hub for stories from and about the international migrant experience.
Our standards
We only include news items from established media sources
We do not share rumors.
We do not include opinion pieces or forecasts.
For all stories marked "Indonesian" I have used Google Translate to convert it from Bahasa. In most cases I will polish the excerpt and/or write a short summary in proper English to help clarify the details.
For any questions, comments or tips, please contact us at newsletter@migrationmedia.net.