Saturday, September 5
Cases surge in Bali (196) & across country (3,269) + President orders police & local govts to strictly enforce health protocols + Jembrana declares Rp. 100k fine for people not wearing masks + more!
Good morning! Welcome to The Bali Beat for Saturday, September 5. 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. (Spoiler Alert: It’s not gonna be good.)
Weather & Waves
Today’s Weather for Southern Bali
Today’s Tides
Surf Outlook
*NOTE: BMKG Balai Besar Region III Denpasar has issued an early High Wave Warning for today. Waves higher than 2 meters are likely to occur in the Bali Sea, Badung Strait, Lombok Strait, and the South Indian Ocean Bali.
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 complete breakdown of yesterday’s numbers + trendlines in our evening update.
The Big News
"Indonesia Adds 3,200 Coronavirus Cases, Surge Continues in Bali" from The Jakarta Globe: The surge in coronavirus cases has reached a new level in Indonesia with daily rises averaging over 3,000 as the country is heading into what seems to be the toughest month so far in the outbreak. It reported 3,269 new cases on Friday -- the third day in a row that daily total has exceeded 3,000 -- for a total of 187,537 cases... More provinces have been emerging as new hotspots since last month. The novel coronavirus is spreading faster particularly in Bali and East Kalimantan, both reported a new high on Friday. Bali reported 196 new cases to take its total to 5,906 while East Kalimantan added 281 cases for a total of 4,815. (Ed. Note: Yesterday, Bali also saw a record number of deaths in a single day with 9 reported. Read more here.)
"Indonesian Govt Enforces Stricter Discipline On Health Protocols" from Antara: President Joko Widodo issued a Presidential Instruction (Inpres) to tighten law enforcement and increase public discipline in the application of health protocols to curb transmission of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). "The instruction was addressed to some ministers, military and police chiefs, head of institutions, governors, districts heads, and mayors to monitor the implementation of health protocols and participate in the efforts to prevent and curb the transmission of COVID-19," said Angkie Yudistia, a presidential spokesperson for social affairs... The president has also instructed all regional heads to issue regulations as a guidance for the implementation of COVID-19 health protocols based on the principles of human rights. "Also take into account that the monitoring is conducted within the corridor of upholding discipline, law enforcement, and public order," Yudistia emphasized.
"Regent of Jembrana Issues COVID-19 Prevention Regulations" from Antara (Indonesian): Jembrana Regent I Putu Artha issued regulations to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, including sanctions for violators. "Today we are conducting a socialization. The imposition of sanctions will be carried out in one week," said Artha. This regulation, among others, regulates the obligations and sanctions for people who do not wear masks when leaving the house. People who do not wear a mask while on the move outside the home will be subject to a fine of Rp. 100,000. (Ed. Note: A later story clarified that in addition to the personal fines, the new regulations include sanctions for businesses who violate health protocols in the form of a Rp. 1 million fine. You can read more about that here.)
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Other Headlines
"Police Blackmailers Claim to Have Only Committed Offense Once" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): When asked how many times the two police officers had carried out similar extortion acts against the public, Head of Public Relations of the Bali Police, Syamsi, admitted that from the interrogation, both of them admitted that they had only done this once. "We don't know the others. Whether they have done it before or not. But he admitted it was the first time," he said.
"Badung Police Find 25 People Not Wearing Masks" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian): The Badung District Civil Service Police Unit (Satpol PP) supervised the use of masks in North Kuta District on Thursday. The joint team consisted of Badung's Covid-19 Task Force (GTPP) and members of the Security and Law Enforcement Sector. During this surveillance, the joint team found that many residents did not comply with health protocols by not wearing masks when doing activities outside the home. "The results of the recap of wearing masks showed that 25 people were disobedient, 19 were local residents and 6 foreigners," said Head of Satpol PP Badung, IGAK Suryanegara. Of the 25 people, 19 were local residents and 6 were foreigners. The reason is that there are those who forget, there are also those who think that if you already wear a helmet, you don't need to wear a mask. Although it was found that many residents had not complied with the appeal from the government, the imposition of a fine of Rp. 100,000 per person had not been implemented. "For the fine, not yet. This is still in the socialization stage. After 7 September 2020, a fine will be imposed.
"Testimony of Nurse in Bali, Isolation Room Is Empty No More Than 3 Hours" from The IDN Times (Indonesian): The struggle to fight the COVID-19 outbreak does not seem to have any signs of ending. The case development is increasing day by day. New patients come and go. However, it does not reduce the enthusiasm of the nurses at Sanglah Central General Hospital (RSUP) Denpasar. The head nurse of the Mawar Room, Nyoman Eta Risnawati, expressed her testimony while treating COVID-19 patients... At the start of the pandemic, around April-May 2020, the treated COVID-19 patients tended to be few and had relatively moderate complaints. However, entering the following month, many COVID-19 patients with severe to critical symptoms came and went and had to be treated in the Mawar Room. They got to use oxygen. "Now, starting in June, July, August, the patients who come with severe conditions. Even to the point of being critical. We lacked a place to treat critical patients,” she said.
"August Tourism Numbers in Bali Drop 81% Due to Coronavirus" from Detik (Indonesian): Plt Kadisparda Badung, Tjokorda Raka Darmawan, said, "Since August 1-31, there have been 2,500-3,000 people visiting Ngurah Rai Airport per day, but the growth of these visits is still far from the minus if we compare it to last year in the same month. Last year, domestic costs were 13,000-15,000 per day, up to now there was minus 81% at the end of August." The significant decline in the number of domestic tourists is certainly the impact of the corona pandemic. Although currently the Badung City Government and the Bali Provincial Government have made every effort to implement health protocols, gaining public trust is again a challenge.
"16 Hotels in Denpasar Have Covid-19 Protocol Certificates" from Berita Bali (Indonesian): Until now, as many as 16 hotels and 1 tourist destination in the city of Denpasar have officially pocketed a Certificate of Protocol for the New Era of Life in the Tourism Sector. Where, there are at least 20 hotels and 5 tourist destinations that have registered. Of the total who registered, 5 hotels and 1 destination have met the requirements, while the rest are still completing administration. In addition, 11 hotels with 3-, 4- and 5-star status have also received certification from the Bali Provincial Government. (Ed. Note: There are close to 1,000 hotels in Denpasar. The certification process has been in place since July.)
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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For all stories marked "Indonesian" I have used Google Translate to convert it from Bahasa. In most cases I try to polish the excerpt and/or write a short summary in proper English to help clarify the details.
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