Monday, June 8
Local transmissions dominating as potential outbreaks & clusters multiply + Buleleng confirms that it will keep beaches & attractions closed + Airport traffic drops 99.5% from 2019 + more!
Good morning! Welcome to the COVID-19 Update for Bali for Monday, June 8. 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
NOTE: The government has revised some of yesterday’s figures. The count of positives in “Other Areas” has been reduced from 10 to 3. Also, one of the foreigners who tested positive has been reclassified from “Imported” to “Local Transmission.” As a result, today’s “New Local” number in the Foreigner category is 1 instead of 2, and yesterday’s “Total New” count should have been 26, while today’s shows here as 32 instead of the top line number of 25 that you see in the the provincial government’s official figures above.
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
"12 People Declared Positive In Denpasar City, All from Local Transmission" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): The 12 patients who tested positive for Covid-19 were found to be infected due to local transmission of 11 people and 1 imported case from an infected area outside Bali. The details of domicile include several areas, namely 2 people from Kelurahan Pemecutan, 1 person from Serangan Village, 2 people from Pemecutan Kaja Village, 1 person from Ubung Kaja Village, 2 people from Dauh Puri Klod Village, 1 person from Sesetan Kelurahan, 1 person from Sesetan Kelurahan Tegal Harum Village, 1 person from Penatih Village and 1 person from Klecutan Pemecutan Village.
"19 Villages In Klungkung Exposed to Covid-19" from Berita Bali (Indonesian): Head of the Klungkung Health Office, Dr. Made Adi Swapatni, said that up to now there were 19 villages in the regency that have been exposed to Covid-19. This number has increased from May when the number villages exposed was 15 villages. This comes in light of an increasing number of new cases of local transmission and the reopening of a number of public services.
"Buleleng Has no Plans To Open Attractions" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Buleleng has 32 attractions, including Sekumpul waterfalls, Gitgit waterfalls, Banjar hot springs, Lovina beach and others. Although a number of local governments in the country have reopened their tourism sectors under "New Normal" policies, the Regency Government of Buleleng does not plan to open tourist sites in Buleleng... "We are still waiting for the decision of the Provincial Government of Bali regarding when it will reopen a number of attractions in Bali and Buleleng in particular," said Gede Suyasa, Secretary of Buleleng's Covid-19 Task Force.
Other Headlines
"Patient Under Observation In Jembrana Dies, GTPP Says It's Not Because of Covid-19" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): A patient who was included in the category of a patient under surveillance (PDP) in Jembrana District was reported dead. The 56-year-old female patient from Mendoyo District had a chance to complain of shortness of breath and decreased awareness. However, after undergoing medical treatment at the State Hospital, the patient was declared dead at the Sanglah Hospital referral hospital I Gusti Agung Putu Arisantha, Spokesperson for Jembrana's Covid-19 Task Force (GTPP), confirmed that the patient died of complications, not because of infection with the Sars, Cov2, or Covid-19.
"Flight Traffic At Ngurah Rai Airport Slides Sharply In May" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): "In May 2020, we recorded a total of 8,829 passengers. This includes 5,099 passengers from domestic routes and 3,730 passengers from international routes. This is a sharp decline from April 2020, when a total of 94,480 passengers came though," said General Manager of PT Angkasa Pura I, Herry AY Sikado. The total number of aircraft served in May was 322, with 149 international routes and 173 domestic routes... Passenger movements in May totaled 8,829, with 3,730 on international routes and 5,099 domestic, a decline from 1,736,396, or 99.5%, from May 2019.
"Head of MPR: Policies Are Not Being Followed, Regional Governments Need to Be More Firm" from Bali Puspa News: Chair of Indonesia's People's Consultative Assembly, Bambang Soesatyo, encouraged all regional governments to be more assertive in encouraging citizens to adhere to and implement health protocols in the public sphere, especially before the adoption of the "New Normal lifestyle. The growing number of Covid-19 patients is due to the fact that some people have not complied with the health protocol... "A number of local governments have made and implemented several policies or regional regulations related to the obligation of citizens to implement health protocols. For example the prohibition of residents crowding or jostling. The regional government must ensure that the policies are obeyed by citizens and implemented consistently," he said.
The View from Outside
"Teaching Yoga In Bali Has Never Been More Popular – Or Harder to Do" from The South China Morning Post: Bali has emerged as the new yoga capital of the world, with about 600 studios on the Indonesian island, and more than 1,000 villas and hotels offering yoga lessons to guests. Feeding back into that, Bali also became the foremost supplier of yoga teacher training, with around 100 academies that, before the pandemic, were churning out thousands of certified instructors every year... Kitcat Cahill a yoga teacher from Perth, Australia, who teaches at Odyssey MVMT, a yoga studio, gym, retreat and cafe in Canggu, says, "Even if you get a paying job in Bali, all the onus is on the instructor. Before earning a single dollar, they must invest in flights, accommodation, teacher-training class, working permit, travel insurance, commercial insurance and a first aid certificate. My advice to anyone entertaining the idea? If you have some savings and you want to get experience, then Bali is a good place to go, but don’t come here with the idea of making a good living or even recouping the cost of your flights."
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.