Saturday, December 12
Worst month yet for country & island's case numbers double from Nov + Tourism Agency OK's New Year's Eve parties after local officials issue bans + Tabanan's PCR machine damaged, testing slows + more!
Good morning! Welcome to The Bali Beat for Saturday, December 12. 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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PUBLICATION REMINDER: I’m off tomorrow, so there will be no newsletter in the morning. However, the evening Covid-19 update will publish as normal; and being Sunday, it will include a wrap-up of the week’s numbers and put them in context with previous weeks.
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.
The Big News
"Fireworks In Pandemic: Bali to Allow New Year’s Eve Celebrations" from The Jakarta Post: The Bali provincial administration will allow hotels, restaurants and tourists destinations to hold the upcoming New Year’s Eve celebration under COVID-19 health protocols in a bid to revive the famed resort island’s tourism sector. There have not been any restrictions issued by the administration, Bali Tourism Agency head Putu Astawa said. “There are no restrictions yet. We still allow [celebrations] on the condition that health protocols are implemented and capacity is limited to 50 percent,” he said on Friday.
(Ed. Note: Last week, Ketut Gede Arta, Head of South Kuta Sub-district, noted that no venues had yet applied for a permit to hold any large events - which would require the government’s sign-off on their plans to enforce health protocols - on New Year’s Eve. Also, I Dewa Gede Rai, Spokesperson for Denpasar's Covid-19 Task Force said that the government was strictly forbidding all large gatherings and asked locals to plan to celebrate the holiday from home to avoid public gatherings. It is not clear how this new pronouncement effects those earlier declarations.)
"One PCR Machine At BRSU Tabanan Damaged" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian): The PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) machine at the Tabanan BRSU Laboratory is damaged. This machine with a capacity of 94 sample swabs was damaged in the detector section. The engine failure resulted in a sample inspection of only 60 samples in 2 runs. Before the machine was damaged, with 2 inspection duty shiffs in place, the PCR Lab of BRSU Tabanan a day could test 248 samples... The person in charge of the PCR and Microbiology Lab of BRSU Tabanan I Wayan Duta Krisna said that one PCR machine had been broken for a week. Since it began operation in November, the PCR BRSU Tabanan machine had examined 4,745 swab samples. The plan is for this damaged machine to be replaced by the Central BNPB.
(Ed. Note: Tabanan has been leading the way with its robust testing & tracing program since this PCR machine came online last month. Students caught in the recent outbreak at the Transportation ministry’s boarding school would not have been had their cases diagnosed - or their recoveries confirmed - in anywhere near the amount of time that they had been without the ability to process so many swab tests each day. Many of them might even still be in quarantine waiting to take their secondary tests. Officials have not said how this loss in testing capacity may effect the mass swab testing program that is underway to screen all police and public workers, nor when they expect the replacement machine to be delivered from the central government.)
"Indonesia Reaches 600,000 Cumulative Cases, Sets New Daily Fatality Record" from The Jakarta Post: The Health Ministry confirmed 6,310 new cases on Friday, bringing the cumulative total to 605,243 cases. The country also confirmed 175 new deaths on Friday, the highest single-day figure it has recorded, bringing the death toll to 18,511. Indonesia, the most populous country in Southeast Asia, has topped the region in terms of confirmed cases and fatalities. The country is in the top 20 in the world in confirmed cases. Since Indonesia’s first cases were detected in early March, it has recorded a steady increase, reaching an average of about 6,000 new cases daily over the past week.
(Ed. Note: By every measure, the spread of Covid-19 across Indonesia is accelerating. The country added 60,050 cases in the first ten days of this month, the fastest pace yet. Here in Bali, the first ten days of the month has seen 1,303 new cases- a 127% jump over November’s total of 573 by that point. It’s also the second-highest total for the first ten days of any month other than early September, when 1,627 cases were recorded while we were in the midst of the post-holiday spike. November saw 15 deaths by the 10th, while December has seen 27 in the same time. Over the last six weeks, the 7-day average of daily new cases has doubled from 55 on November 3rd to 109 yesterday. You can see the increase illustrated on the daily tracking graph from last night’s Covid-19 Update.)
>> Classifieds <<
Community is so important- especially in times like these. If you’re looking to connect with the community of dedicated, engaged foreigners in Bali who’ve stayed during this pandemic, you can reach them with a classified ad in this space. Check out this page to find out how.
Other Headlines
"COVID-19 Task Force Requires 1,000 Additional Medical Volunteers" from Antara: The Task Force for COVID-19 Handling is seeking an additional 1,000 medical volunteers in the wake of a continued daily surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, its coordinator for the volunteers’ team, Andre Rahadian, stated. "Taking into account a spike in the number of cases coupled with the preparedness at some hospitals, especially referral hospitals and self-isolation facilities, the need for volunteers, especially medical volunteers, including doctors and nurses, is still high," Rahadian remarked. The task force will also need contact tracing volunteers to be stationed at health facilities and public health centers (Puskesmas), he stated. Provinces on the lookout for more volunteers were West and Central Java, also registering the highest number of coronavirus patients in the country after Jakarta.
"Indonesia Searching for Over 116 Million COVID-19 Vaccines" from Indonesia Expat: Indonesia has managed to secure 155.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, but are still looking for an additional 116 million.
Government Data shows that the remaining vaccines are expected to be obtained from other producers through agreements with Pfizer, AstraZeneca for 50 million doses each. Indonesia also aims to receive 16 million doses from the COVAC global vaccine distribution which is supported by the World Health Organisation. If the agreement is approved, Indonesia will have 271.5 million doses of vaccine, above the government goal that was set earlier this year of 246.6 million.
"South Korea Will Open a Consulate General Office in Bali in 2021" from The IDN Times (Indonesian): On the sidelines of the Bali Democracy Forum South Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Park Tae Sung's met with Givernor Wayan Koster. He explained that there were 380,000 South Korean tourists visiting Indonesia in 2019. Of that number, 210,000, or 55%, came through Bali Province- mostly to celebrate their honeymoon. In light of this growth in trave to the island, he said that by mid-2021 he would inaugurate the South Korean Consul General's Office in Bali and install Minister-Counselor of the Korean Consulate in Bali, Moon Young-ju. The hope is that the existence of this consulate can provide protection for South Korean residents in Bali. "The plan is that the consulate building will be officially opened in May 2021," he said.
"Tabanan Regency Government Launches Trans Metro Dewata Corridor I At the Preparation Terminal" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): The Trans Metro Dewata bus, known as Teman Bus, is equipped with sophisticated equipment such as CCTV, non-cash card reader, passenger counting sensor and of course this bus is very comfortable and clean. Until December 31, 2020 passengers are not subject to a tariff, because operational costs are 100% subsidized by the government... Across Tabanan corridor I, from Terminal Pesiapan to Central Parking in Kuta, Badung, there are six pick-up points for stops along the by-pass of Ir. Soekarno, where the specified headway time (distance between buses) is 10 minutes so that passengers do not wait long at the stop. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic health protocols (Prokes) dictate that the number of passengers was limited to only 12 passengers (half of the bus capacity).
"Ancient Tunnel Found in Bali’s Buleleng Regency May Have Been from 11th Century, Expert Says" from Coconuts: The tunnel, located inside the area where Tamblang Dam is being developed at the border of Sawan and Kubutambahan districts, was initially thought to have originated during the Dutch colonial period in Indonesia. However, further investigation following its discovery on Nov. 28 have revealed that it may be much older... I Gusti Made Suarbawa, who heads the Archaeology Center in Denpasar, said yesterday that there’s indication the tunnel was from the time of ancient Bali kingdoms based on its dimensions and its similarity to another tunnel from that period, which was also found in Sawan district.
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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