Monday, November 23
State-owned Bio Farma confirms late Jan timeline for vaccine + Deputy Guv confirms no intl tourists until 2021 + Critics pan govt plan to reopen schools as island gov claims it's "ready" + more!
Good morning! Welcome to The Bali Beat for Monday, November 23. If you’re not a subscriber, sign up here to get this update delivered directly to your Inbox every Monday-Saturday morning, along with each evening’s Covid-19 update. If you are already a subscriber, thank you! Please be sure to share it with others in the foreigner community on the island by clicking the button below.
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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: Since having been declared a Yellow Zone on Friday, Jembrana has added 51 cases- 14 on Saturday and 37 on Sunday. The colored “Zone” designation is based on a 14-day new infection average, and this 2-day spike has pushed the Regency’s 7-day average to 9 and its 14-day mark to 5.6. As it was Sunday, there were no media announcements yesterday about the weekend spike, nor a change in its zone designation. 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
"Bio Farma Aims to Submit Interim Review On Sinovac Vaccine in January" from The Jakarta Post: PT Bio Farma has announced that the state-owned pharmaceutical company plans to submit its interim results from the third and final trial phase of the Sinovac vaccine to the Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) in January 2021. The interim report is to include the results of the phase three clinical trials of the vaccine conducted in China and Brazil, which started prior to the trials in Indonesia. The interim results are intended to provide a basis for the BPOM to approve the issuance of emergency use authorization (EUA) for the vaccine. “Hopefully, we will obtain emergency [use] approval in the third or fourth week in January,” Bio Farma president director Honesti Basyir said.
"Bali Deputy Governor: Foreign Tourism Closed Until 2021" from Indonesia Expat: The government has kept accessed closed for people seeking to enter on tourist visas wishing to visit the Island of the Gods, along with the rest of Indonesia. Bali Deputy Governor, Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardana Sukawati, explained that Bali will still not be visited by international tourists until the rest of 2020 is over. He also dismissed the rumours about plans to open tours for foreign tourists starting 1st December 2020 and he’s not sure when foreign tourists can enter Bali again; moreover, he noted the possibility of Bali opening to foreign tourists in 2020 is very small. “It looks like foreign tourists can visit Bali again early next year,” he added.
"KPAI Pushes for Stricter Protocols Following Govt Plan to Reopen Schools" from The Jakarta Post: The National Child Protection Commission (KPAI) is urging the central government to focus on preparing infrastructure and protocols for students returning to classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The KPAI believes the government is unprepared and has evaded its responsibility by making regional administrations responsible for taking care of the necessary preparations. “By handing over the responsibility to the regional administrations without mapping which areas and schools are prepared and which are not, I think they are neglecting their responsibilities,” KPAI commissioner on education Retno Listyati said... The KPAI suggested the central government should establish a proper information, communication, coordination and complaint system so that both central and regional administrations can work together in preparing for the schools reopening, as opposed to letting the regional administrations take over all of the duties.
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Other Headlines
"Deputy Chairman of Bali DPRD Agrees that Schools Should Reopen for Face-to-Face Learning" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): Deputy Chairman of the Bali Province Regional Representative Council (DPRD), I Nyoman Suyasa, revealed that his party agreed with the opening of schools for face-to-face learning. However, he emphasized that face-to-face learning must be carried out with strict health protocol rules and implemented by trials first. "Yes, the point is to arrange it later, for example per class, for example, dividing 40 by two, (so each) 20 people. So take turns to set the hour. The important thing is that the program is carried out strictly," said Suyasa. "The important thing is to carry out the trial first, if in the trial, things that are not bad should be continued." If face-to-face schools are run, his party does not yet know which budget will be taken to carry out this. "I will check first, then where will the budget come from. It also has no information," he said.
(Ed. Note: On Saturday, the head of the island’s Education Department, Ketut Ngurah Boy Jayawibawa, said that schools that were in the process of applying for permission to open because of reduced infection numbers in their area - it wasn’t specified, but it was probably Buleleng - were having their applications postponed due to rising infection numbers island-wide. He also confirmed that online learning would continue until at least January, and that they were still studying whether they would be able to open by then; he also said that thanks to previous efforts to reopen schools, “In principle, we’re ready.” However, even if authorization is given for them to open, if a school is not able to meet the health requirements laid out and/or if the parents do not think that it is safe, the students there would continue to attend classes online. In addition to putting the choice to reopen schools into provincial governments’ hands, the Education Ministry’s new policy requires that any costs associated with reopening, such as expanding facilities to meet social distancing requirements, PPE, sanitization, and more, must be paid for out of local education budgets.)
"Still A Pandemic, Domestic Tourist Visits to Bali Grow 37%" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Based on statistical data, tourist visits since the opening of Bali tourism for the domestic market on July 31, 2020, have increased by 37.30%. The economic growth of Bali when compared between Q2 (second quarter) and Q3 (third quarter) shows a growth of 1.66%. This is evidenced by the increase in GDP in the third quarter of Rp. 55.37 trillion compared to the second quarter of only Rp. 54.33 trillion.
"An Average of 5,000 Domestic Tourists Enter Bali per Day Through Ngurah Rai Airport" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): "The average arrival of domestic passengers was 5,451 people per day in the period from 1 to 20 November 2020 yesterday," said the Stakeholder Relation Manager of PT Angkasa Pura I (Persero) International Airport I Gusti Ngurah Rai Bali, Taufan Yudhistira. He added that the domination of cities to and from Bali includes Jakarta, Makassar and Surabaya. The total movement of domestic passengers (at the arrival and departure terminals) in that period reached 224,445.
"Massive Raids in Tabanan, Yustisi Net 204 Prokes Violators" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): The operation targets traditional markets, modern markets, shops, housing, tourism objects, roads, gas stations and places of worship. "The total personnel involved in the activity were 294 people, 271 Polri, 20 TNI people, 3 others (pecalang), Yustisi activities carried out 215 times, targeting 209 locations," Head of Subbagdal Ops Iptu I Nengah Widya said. The results of the simultaneous operation data collection in a number of areas in Tabanan were captured by 204 violators... "Before Tabanan Regency is declared a green zone, the joint officers of the Tabanan Police will continue to conduct disciplinary measures. We will continue to appeal, invite and ask for the awareness of all parties, especially people who are active outside the home to be disciplined and obliged to follow health protocols. Wash your hands, keep your distance and always wear a mask," he added.
"BPOM Revokes Chloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine Authorization for Covid-19 Patient Treatment" from The Jakarta Globe: Indonesia's drug supervisory body has revoked the authorization for chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine sulfate use in the Covid-19 patient treatment after a study suggesting the drugs increase the risk for heart rhythm disorders among the patients. On Thursday, the Food and Drug Control Agency (BPOM) said that it had concluded a four-month study in seven hospitals in Indonesia. Of the 213 patients who received these drugs, 28.2 percent experienced heart rhythm disorders. "Thus, drugs containing hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine should no longer be used in the treatment of Covid-19," BPOM Head Penny Lukito said.
"Garuda Among World's Safest Airlines in Applying Health Protocols" from Antara: The rating was given by Safe Travel Barometer, an independent audit agency that assess the implementation of COVID-19 health protocols in the global travel, tourism, and hospitality industry. According to the audit, Garuda Indonesia is the only Indonesian airlines listed among the 20 safest airlines globally. The ranking was based on a comprehensive assessment on the standard of implementation of health protocols and flight safety, wherein Garuda obtained a Safe Travel Score of 4 out of 5.0 among over 230 airlines evaluated worldwide.
"Badung Installing Free Wifi Corner in Traditional Markets and Tourist Attractions" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): As part of its efforts to increase competition with modern markets, the Office of Communication and Information Technology develops markets with various innovations so as to increase public interest in shopping in the market. One of the programs initiated is to install a free Wifi Corner on the market. Head of Communication and Information Badung IGN Jaya Saputra explained that the Badung Regency Free Wifi Corner Program does not only target traditional markets. In order to welcome the tourism industry reborn, his party will also install free Wifi Corner at 33 tourist attraction sites because the tourism industry is one of the dynamic industries that must always get touch and update.
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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