January 7, 2022
Indonesia reduces quarantine to 7/10-days, adds countries to ban-list + Task Force sees increases in Covid-19 indicators + 6 million patient data records allegedly leak + Weekend reads + more
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Daily Covid Update
National Figures
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The Big News
“Indonesia Reduces Quarantine to 7/10-days, Adds Countries to Ban-list” from Antara: The government temporarily closed entry for foreign nationals, who within 14 days had lived and/or visited countries that had confirmed cases of Omicron transmission at the community level, specifically South Africa, Botswana, Norway and France. The government has also temporarily closed the entry of foreign citizens from countries or regions that are geographically close to nations with cases of transmission of the Omicron community, such as Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini, and Lesotho. In addition, the government has temporarily closed entry for foreign nationals, who within 14 days had lived or visited the UK and Denmark, countries with more than 10,000 Omicron cases. Travelers from abroad are required to get a PCR test and undergo quarantine at a centralized facility for a week. Citizens coming from countries, with cases of Omicron transmission, are required to undergo quarantine at a centralized facility for 10 days.
Context: Regarding the 10,000 Omicron cases criteria, as of January 5, Our World In Data notes that the top six countries for total daily Covid-19 cases are the United States (492,000), France (169,000), the United Kingdom (167,000), India (35,000), Canada (32,000) and Germany (22,000). The share of these that are estimated to be the Omicron variant are 80%, 80%, 95%, 35%, 40% and 14% respectively. Of these top six countries, only two (the United Kingdom and France), are in the government list of countries banned from entering Indonesia.
“Task Force Records Increase in Four COVID-19 Indicators” from Antara: Four indicators have pointed to an increasing trend of COVID-19 transmission in Indonesia over the past two weeks, spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, has said. “This increase is an early alarm, and we should set the target to control the cases, so they remain controlled,” he said on Thursday. The first indicator is the number of daily confirmed cases, which has reached 404, he said. That number has shown a relatively high increase compared to two weeks ago, when daily cases were recorded at 136, he said. The second indicator is the number of daily active cases, which has increased over the last week. The third indicator is the positivity rate, which has increased from 0.07% to 0.19%. Meanwhile, the fourth indicator is the occupancy rate of isolation beds, which has increased from 1.38% to 3.35%.
“Health Ministry Probes Alleged Leak of Six Million Patients' Data” from Antara: The Indonesian Health Ministry confirmed it was investigating the incident of data breach of millions of patients on their servers that were sold on dark web forums. "We are assessing the problems that occurred and (currently) evaluating our systems," Chief Digital Transformation Officer at the Ministry of Health Setiaji said on Thursday. Data of no less than millions of patients in various hospitals in Indonesia were allegedly breached and traded on a dark web forum. Based on some information, the leaked document of 720GB was claimed to be medical information of Indonesian patients. An uploader gave away six million data samples, including full names, hospitals, patient photos, COVID-19 test results, and X-Ray scans.
Context: There were a spate of alleged hacks of government databases last year, including The National Cyber and Encryption Agency and the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (Indonesian). Reports that the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency was hacked around the same time, were later denied by the agency.
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Other Headlines
“Luhut Says 90% of Omicron Cases Originate from Overseas Travel” from Tempo: Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said almost 90% of Omicron variant cases originated from overseas travel. According to him, the mobile app helps to tighten supervision of the traffic of international travelers in order to prevent the entry of the highly contagious coronavirus variant. “The monitoring app is very helpful and really disciplines our people and also reduces people arriving from abroad because almost 90% of Omicron transmissions originate from overseas travel,” said Luhut on Thursday. Indonesia has detected a total of 254 Omicron variant cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, January 4. Most of them, or 239 cases, were imported ones from the international arrivals, while the rest were local transmissions.
Vaccination Update
“Vaccination Coverage for Age 6-11 Years in Bali Over 95%” from Republika (Indonesian): The Bali Provincial Health Office noted that the coverage of Covid-19 vaccination for children aged 6-11 years in the local area had exceeded 95%. "If only there were no Christmas and New Year holidays, it would have been above 100%," said Head of the Bali Provincial Health Office, Dr. Ketut Suarjaya, on Thursday. The Covid-19 vaccination for children aged 6-11 years in Bali Province is targeted to reach 373,120 people. Until January 4, vaccination coverage for children aged 6-11 years for the first injection or dose in nine districts/cities has reached 355,753 people (95.35%).
More...
Nation: “Indonesian Government Invites Public to Receive Vaccine Booster” from Antara
Nation: “Indonesia Must Produce Its Own Vaccines” from Antara
Health Protocols (Prokes) & Health Services
“House Speaker Calls for Anticipatory Measures Against Covid-19 Surge” from Antara: House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani has urged the government to prepare anticipatory measures for a possible worsening of the COVID-19 situation in Indonesia, which an increase in Omicron cases could cause. “The government should prepare all the necessities for the worst condition (of COVID-19) from now. We must not be overwhelmed if there is a big spike like in mid-2021,” she said on Thursday. Maharani expressed the hope that the health infrastructure throughout the country will be ready if another COVID-19 wave occurs due to Omicron transmission. She said that Indonesia should no longer face limitations like it did when the Delta surge occurred earlier.
More...
Nation: “National Police Launch Monitoring App for People in Quarantine” from Antara
Nation: “Central Java Governor Calls for Legal Action Against 'Vaccine Jockeys'” from Antara
Province: “Not All Tourist Sites Have PeduliLindungi Installed” from Bali Post (Indonesian)
Economy & Infrastructure
“Bali Government Removes Vehicle Title Transfer Fees” from CNN Indonesia (Indonesian): The Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, has waived the transfer fee for motorized vehicles. He will be released from January 5 to June 3. The abolition of the sanctions was carried out through the issuance of the Bali Governor's Regulation (Pergub) Number 63 of 2021 concerning Basic Exemption and Elimination of Administrative Sanctions from Transfer of Motorized Vehicles for Transfer of Ownership of Motorized Vehicles. Koster said he implemented the policy to ease the burden on the people. He explained that the duty exemption was carried out because Bali's economic condition until December 2021 had not shown significant signs of recovery.
More...
Nation: “Coal Trade in Disarray as Export Ban Review Delayed” from The Jakarta Post
Nation: “Climate Change Can Inflict Rp544 Trillion in Losses on Indonesia” from Antara
Nation: “Indonesia Revokes More Than 2,000 Mining, Forestry Permits” from Benar News
Nation: “900 Mandalika MotoGP Tickets for IDR 15 Million Apiece Sold Out” from Republika (Indonesian)
Province: “Bali Airport Serves 3.7 Million Domestic Passengers in 2021” from Republika (Indonesian)
Education
“Face-to-face Learning May Spark Rise in Infections” from Antara: Center for Indonesian Policy Studies researcher Nadia Fairuza said that the government's policy to fully implement face-to-face learning can likely trigger the spread of COVID-19. "The national education system needs to be designed to be more resilient to potential disasters, and this pandemic shows the urgency to prepare for this. As long as the pandemic persists, we think it will be difficult for the government to create ideal conditions for 100% face-to-face learning," she said on Thursday. "Face-to-face learning for a maximum of six hours is still quite risky to conduct, given the spread of the Omicron variant in Jakarta. This is especially since vaccinations for teachers and students had not been completed," she said.
More ...
Nation: “Face-to-face Learning Running Well Amid Omicron Threat” from Antara
Weekend Reads
“The Balinese Indigo Dye Studio Welcoming Blue-Loving Adventurers” from The Wall Street Journal (Hard Paywall)
“Indonesia’s Womangrove Collective Reclaims the Coast From Shrimp Farms” from Monga Bay
Of Interest
“With the Implementation of Strict Health Procedures, the Ogoh-ogoh Parade will be held in Denpasar” from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian)
“Indonesia's Best Hidden Gem Tourism Villages Worth Exploring” from Antara
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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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