Sunday, April 19
Local infections on the rise + New fines & jail time for people spreading misinformation online + More hotels added for quarantine + Aussie Premier scolds infected person for traveling to Bali + more!
Good morning! Welcome to the COVID-19 Update for Bali for Sunday , April 19. If you find this information useful, please subscribe and share it with others in the foreigner community on the island.
If you've got a tip on a story that should be included, please contact us at newsletter@migrationmedia.net.
Status Update
Country-wide Numbers:
Source:
Indonesia National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB Indonesia): @BNPB_Indonesia
Official updates are available from the Indonesian Government here.
Bali Numbers:
Confirmed Cases Distribution:
Key: Red = Infected | Green = Recovered | Black = Died
Trends:
Sources:
Infographic comes from Bali Provincial Government COVID-19 Task Force (link).
The geographic breakdown comes from the Bali Provincial Government's data collection department (link).
Charts have been compiled using their data.
More detailed information on the locations of positive cases within each Regency, as well as the number of suspected cases and people under observation, can be found in infographics on the official websites of each Regency's COVID-19 Task Force:
Badung Jembrana*
Bangli* Karangasem
Buleleng Klungkung*
Denpasar City Tabanan
Gianyar*
*Does not yet have a dedicated Covid-19 info page. Detailed information can be found by reading official government news alerts.
The Big News
"Local Transmission COVID-19 In Bali Continues to Increase. Seven Regencies / Cities Declared Red Zones" from The Bali Post (Indonesian): On Saturday (18/4) On Saturday, 2 more people have been infected with Covid-19 through local transmission. In total Bali has registered 23 positive Covid-19 patients with local transmission categories... According to the Ministry of Health, 7 districts in Bali have entered the local transmission zone: Denpasar, Jembrana, Karangasem, Gianyar, Buleleng, Bangli, and Klungkung. Only Badung and Tabanan are not yet on the list. In addition, imported case cases also continue to grow. Of the 7 additional cases on Saturday, the number of imported cases amounted to 5. All of them are migrant workers whose return in the last month is still ongoing.
"Minister of Communication and Information: Hoax Spreaders Are Threatened with Fines Of Rp.1 billion" from Antara (Indonesian): Minister of Communication and Information Johnny G Plate said that the perpetrators of spreading hoaxes were threatened with fines of up to Rp1 billion for violating the law... "The act of producing and continuing the hoax is an unlawful act. It has the potential to be subject to criminal penalties which can be up to five to six years in prison and a fine of Rp1 billion," Johnny told a press conference at Graha BNPB, Jakarta, Saturday.
"Intaran Traditional Village Forbids Residents from Going Out Without Masks" from The Bali Post (Indonesian): Members of Pecalang Intaran Indigenous Village, in Sanur, South Denpasar, are actively patroling to ensure the use of masks in the community... Both local residents and foreign citizens who encounter and are not wearing masks who encunter the patrols do not escape admonishment. According to Deputy Chairman of Pecalang Intaran Indigenous Village, I Wayan Sura Darma, the patrol, which took place at the intersection of Bale Agung Intaran Temple, all people found not wearing masks were asked to wear masks.
Other Headlines
"Anticipating An Increase In PMI, Badung Prepares Additional Hotels" from The Bali Post (Indonesian): Anticipating an increase in the arrival of Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) and Badung students returning from abroad, Deputy Regent of Badung, I Ketut Su You, said that additional in the Kuta area will be used as centralized isolation locations to prevent the spread of COVID-19... During a review of current facilities, supervised by medical staff, the Regency Government has also set specific requirements that must be met by the hotel as a place of centralized isolation. The district government has now secured the addition of accommodation facilities to ensure that the hotel is ready when needed. "At present we have prepared a second hotel in the Kuta area with 134 rooms as isolation places for PMI and students from Badung as well as 25 rooms for assistants from the Health Office and Satpol PP," he said.
"Quarantine Rules Are Tightened, No Contact Between Room Occupants" from Bali Express (Indonesian): Quarantine activities for Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) who are isolated are being increasingly tightened. This follows the quarantine actors' activities that ignore the security aspects of themselves and others... Putu Agus Suradnyana, Buleleng Regent, said quarantine actors were prohibited from making contact between the occupants of the rooms. This was emphasized to protect all quarantine actors themselves. Suradnyana worried, if later the interaction was given freely, there would be Corona virus transmission, if one of them was infected.
"Food Packages Given Out to Former Tourism Workers" from The Seminyak Times: The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy distributed basic need packages to former tourism workers in Bali affected by the Covid-19 pandemic yesterday in Nusa Dua. Each food package contained 5 kilograms of rice, 2 kilograms of sugar, 520 ml of soy sauce, 2 liters of cooking oil, sachet coffee, drinks and one box of instant noodles, which was provided by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy with help from Wings Food... GIPI Bali will distribute the nine-basic necessities to 8,000 tour workers in Bali affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. They are workers who have been laid off or who are now on unpaid leave and have been without income for more than three weeks. There are 20,000 to 30,000 tourism workers currently needing help. They are hotel, restaurant and entertainment venue workers.
"Q1 Electricity Sales in Bali Grow" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian): PLN, the Bali electrical utility's parent unit recorded an increase in electricity sales of 8.13% in March 2020 compared to sales in March 2019. Bali UID Bali Communications Manager Made Arya said on Friday that the growth was dominated by an increase in electricity usage in households. "At present the community is more active at home, of course it affects the increased electricity usage," he said.
"Falling Prices, Buleleng Chicken Farmers Scream" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian): Chicken farmers are currently having bad luck. The price of chickens ready to harvest is now in free fall, falling more than 50%. Chicken breeders are also being forced to hand over their ready-for-harvest chickens at a low price to buyers because the age of chickens is past the age of harvest... Head of the Animal Husbandry and Animal Health Department of Buleleng Regency said that the drop in the price of broiler chickens in farmers occurred due to a decrease in people's purchasing power, while the production of chickens in farmers was still the same as before the Covid-19 pandemic. The decline in demand is also said to occur in super quality beef which is usually marketed to hotels and restaurants.
The View from Outside
"WA Premier Scolds Rio Tinto Contractor Who Tests Positive to COVID-19 After Bali Trip" from 9 News: Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has said the only new case of COVID-19 reported in the state was a result of "selfish" and "irresponsible" actions. The male who has tested positive was a male contractor for Rio Tinto who had recently visited Bali... "It was pretty selfish and irresponsible to travel to have traveled to Bali in the circumstances. "The people who did that made me angry that they now come home and cause these problems," the premier told reporters.
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.
If you are trying to plan travel anywhere, here are two 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 alerts feed into airlines' reservation systems, so it is the most reliable database of flight restrictions around.
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.
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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