Monday, December 7
Minister announces testing & isolation plan for admitting tourists onto island; no date set + In throes of worst infection wave yet, Govt chooses 5 vaccines for approval & distribution + more!
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Weather & Waves
Today’s Weather for Southern Bali
Today’s Tides
Surf Outlook
Weather forecast from Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology & Geophysics Council (Link)
Tide table from Tide-forecast.com.
Surf outlook via Windy.com.
Local Covid Numbers
*NOTE: Click here to see the national numbers infographic and a Regency-by-Regency breakdown of yesterday’s local numbers, which includes a look back at last week’s overall totals.
The Big News
"Government Will Open Bali Tourism with This Plan" from Kompas (Indonesian): According to Coordinating Minister for maritime & Investment Luhut Binsar, the government plans that all tourists entering or traveling to Bali must go through an antigen test. In addition, the government is also preparing isolation areas. "We have prepared centralized isolation in Bali which is paid for by the government. Of course, this includes hospitals," said Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan... During a working visit in Tokyo to meet with Government Authorities and businessmen, Luhut conveyed that there is a commitment from Japan in the future to build a hospital with international standards and doctors from Japan. "Japan wants to make a direct flight from Tokyo to Bali. We will make it like a travel bubble . We prepare a hospital with Japan with international standards and with Japanese doctors. Japan is obliged to provide training for our doctors at Udayana University. After that continue in Jakarta and Medan. So we do not rush to open it (Bali). We prepare it well. When it's time, we open it," said Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.
"Indonesia in Worst Period of Coronavirus Outbreak" from The Jakarta Globe: The country is facing a bleak prospect of another dramatic surge in cases related to local elections next Wednesday and the approaching holiday season in the end of the month. Voters will elect governors, mayors and district heads in nine provinces, 37 cities and 224 districts on Dec. 9, which has been formally declared as national holiday. The seven-day average of new cases passed the 5,000 mark for the first time last week and has since been climbing steadily to just below 6,000 on Saturday. Indonesia recorded 6,027 new cases [on Sunday], bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 569,707, according to the latest Health Ministry data. It’s the third time that daily numbers have topped 6,000, including a single-day record of over 8,300 cases only two days ago. It has added more than 30,000 new cases in only five days into the month.
(Ed. Note: While Bali is not in the worst stretch of cases since the start of the outbreak - that happened from August 27 through September 14 - the last 30 days has represented to most steady increase in daily new case numbers yet. The late-August spike lasted just over 2 weeks and had larger numbers of cases per day than the island is seeing now, but it receded quickly. The steady drumbeat of in infections that are being uncovered now via the more widespread testing that is available is alarming. Since the first week of November, the 7-day average of new cases has risen from 55 to 136, and the number of active patients has grown from 555 to 1,200. Unfortunately, the government does not regularly report hospitalization rates, ICU admission numbers, or intubation stats, so we don’t know how much of a strain this current wave is putting on the healthcare system. We do know that the central government has promised that if hospital admissions rise beyond a certain level, the army will step in to assist in building temporary facilities to house patients.)
"Indonesia Greenlights Adoption Of Major COVID-19 Vaccines" from The Jakarta Post: In a decree signed by Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto, the government has stipulated that the vaccines that can be used for vaccination programs in Indonesia must come from local pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma, United Kingdom-based AstaZeneca, China’s Sinopharm or Sinovac Biotech, or US pharma Moderna. The vaccine being jointly produced by US firm Pfizer and German company BioNTech also made the list... The decree from the Health Ministry also stipulates that each candidate vaccine should obtain an Emergency Use Authorization from the Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) before it can be used for a vaccination program.
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Other Headlines
"Prepare Face-to-face Learning, 6,284 Teachers in Badung Will Receive Swab" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): to ensuring that schools are ready to accept students with standard health protocols (prokes), teachers in Badung Regency will also carry out a swab test. We have asked Diskes to do a swab test for educators and education staff. So that later the time the permit to leave school will be ready from the infrastructure and human resources," said Acting (Plt) Disdikpora Badung I Made Mandi. according to data from Disdikpora itself there are 6,284 teachers in Badung consisting of 2,451 PNS Teachers and 3,833 Non PNS "Maybe starting mid-December, teachers will be taken to do the swab test . Because there are so many of them it will last for more than 2 weeks. So if January 2020 is given for face-to-face learning, then we can start right away," he explained.
"Ahead of the Covid-19 Vaccination Program, Bali Health Office Trains 120 Vaccinators" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): the Head of the Bali Provincial Health Office, Dr. Ketut Suarjaya, said that his party was holding training for vaccinators. "We are currently training as many as 120 vaccinators. Both in hospitals and health centers," he said. Meanwhile, the target people will be vaccinated, namely the population aged 18 to 59 years... When it comes to numbers for Bali, the provisions are still in preparation at the center. In addition, the Bali Provincial Government is also waiting for technical instructions. And the vaccine will not need to be tested because its use will be realized immediately. "Yes, all Puskesmas and Hospitals have been trained. No need for more trials. We are still waiting for the technical guidelines," he concluded.
"3 Districts in Bali Record Highest National DHF Cases" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): Entering the rainy season, cases of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) began to attack, especially in Bali Province. Previously reported, that three districts in Bali were recorded to have the highest cases of DHF nationally. The three regencies include Buleleng Regency with 3,313 people, Badung 2,547 people, and Gianyar 1,717 people. If you look at the data that existed beforehand, namely from January to April 2020, Buleleng Regency was indeed the district with the highest DHF disease rate, which in that period reached 2,057 cases.
"The Number Of Passengers At Ngurah Rai Airport Grows In November" from Antara (Indonesian): "During the month of November 3,898 aircraft movements and 351,585 passengers were recorded in and out of Bali Island through Ngurah Rai Airport. When compared with records in October 2020, there was a growth of 27.5% and 51.8% for aircraft and passenger movements," said GM PT Angkasa. Pura (API) I I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, Herry AY Sikado. In October 2020, his side recorded that as many as 3,058 airplanes and 231,586 passengers were served by the Island of the Gods air gate.
"Achiko Partners with Udayana University for Covid-19 Testing Research in Bali, Indonesia" from Pres Release: Achiko AG and Udayana University’s Research Department signed a research agreement on Wednesday. The partners plan to conduct a study to better understand acceptance of mass testing in the broader population as well as the practicality of mass testing, and its effects on healthcare, and consumer and business confidence. To this end, diagnostic testing for Covid-19 will be deployed across three islands in the province of Bali (Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan), Indonesia, starting in late January 2021... The research findings are expected to become available within 3 months after launch of the study, serving as a reference point for governments and stakeholders when evaluating cross-border testing in Indonesia and beyond. Teman Sehat’s digital passport solution supports a wide range of testing solutions, including Gumnuts, and can be integrated into other digital passports such as the IATA Travel Pass and the World Economic Forum’s CommonPass.
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 at BaliSolidarity.org. If you know of an effort and would like to have them listed, please send their information to newsletter@migrationmedia.net.
About This Newsletter
This newsletter is a product of Migration Media, the hub for stories from and about the international migrant experience.
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