Thursday, August 13
Infection numbers steady, but overcrowding & outbreaks hobble 2 more hospitals + Karangasem stats put it among top Red Zones in country + Inconsistencies in national virus data persist + more!
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PUBLICATION NOTE: Due to a technical error, last night’s Covid-19 numbers summary did not distribute as scheduled, but it can be found on the newsletter’s archive page here. My apologies for not catching this last night!
Weather & Waves
Today’s Weather for Southern Bali
*NOTE: A High Wave Warning has been issued for Thursday. Waves higher than 2 meters are likely to occur in Bali Strait South, the Badung Strait, Lombok Strait South, and Bali South Indian Ocean.
Today’s Tides
Surf Outlook (animation shows changes from 8:00am - 6:00pm)
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
"Klungkung Hospital Patients Restless Due to Covid-19 Patients Being Placed in VIP Room" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Klungkung Hospital has again experienced an overload of suspected and positive patients infected with the new coronavirus (Covid-19). Thanks to physical damage and a shortage of medical personnel, the hospital's basement isolation room cannot be operated. Because of this, six patients who were medical officers at the Klungkung Hospital were treated in the hospital's VIP rooms, which made other patients who were treated in the VIP rooms nervous... Director of Klungkung Hospital, Dr. Nyoman Kesuma, said that as of yesterday, he had to treat as many as 26 positive patients for Covid-19 and 22 patients with suspected Covid-19. Where four of them were treated in the ICU. Meanwhile, due to overcapacity, six medical officers who tested positive for Covid-19 but had no symptoms were being temporarily treated in the VIP room at Klungkung Hospital. (Ed. Note: More details on what’s happening at Klungkung Hospital, including the crisis of infections & exhaustion among the nursing staff, can be found here.)
"Buleleng Hospital Services Threatened as Pharmacy Department Becomes A New Cluster" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): The pharmacy department at Buleleng Hospital is in danger of being disrupted. The reason was that 9 staff at the pharmacy installation have tested positive for Covid-19. Currently, RSUD management has been asked to divide the duties of employees in the pharmaceutical sector so that pharmacy services in RSUD can run well... Gede Suyasa, Secretary for Buleleng's Covid-19 Task Force, said that the cluster in the pharmacy department began with a local staff member who made a spiritual journey to various regions that had been designated as Orange and Red zones. Later, the staff tested positive. The surveillance team then carried out a wider search. "Currently there are 9 people (who are confirmed). Contact tracing is ongoing and will continue. Hopefully the number confirmed will not increase,” he said.
(Ed. Note: With these incidents, Buleleng Hospital & Klungkung Hospital join Sanjiwani Hospital in having to deal with major outbreaks within their walls… this week. Be careful out there.)
"Karangasem Among List of Top Red Zones in Indonesia" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): Explained Karangasem's Regent, I Gusti Ayu Mas Sumatri, "It is necessary to note that the ranking has only started to be established on August 2, and this ranking will later be updated once a week according to development of data by the central government. So it just so happened that at that time there were significant additional positive cases in Karangasem, so the indicator shows Karangasem is in the top red zone in Indonesia."... As of August 9, Karangasem had 60 cases, thus bringing Karangasem to the top rank of the red zone for the spread of Covid-19. However, in the following week period, so far Karangasem has only had 24 cases, which will be counted until August 16. With a decrease in the number of cases, it will certainly be a parameter at least that Karangasem can be separated from the top ranking of the red zone in Indonesia.
Other Headlines
"Data Discrepancies Persist Five Months Into Pandemic" from The Jakarta Post: Central Java, for instance, recorded on its website 11,423 total confirmed cases, with 3,529 active cases and 1,049 deaths as of 12 p.m. of Tuesday. However, according to the central government's tally, Central Java's cases stood at 10,765, with 3,888 active cases and 731 deaths as of Tuesday. There is a 318-figure gap between the reported fatalities and a 658-figure gap between the confirmed cases... National Covid-19 Task Force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito said the ministry could be receiving incomplete data from provincial administrations. He said that the task force was working on improving interoperability between national and regional data so that there would not be any discrepancies.
"Vehicles Going to Bali Must Book Tickets Five Hours in Advance" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): Starting August 25, every vehicle that will cross from Ketapang to Bali is required to buy an online ticket no later than 5 hours before the crossing time. "So now there is an online system. So they can order tickets in advance. That is no later than five hours before departure," said the Head of the Bali Provincial Transportation Agency, I Gede Wayan Samsi Gunarta... The purpose of implementing online tickets at Ketapang Port is to invite port service users to be disciplined and accustomed to ordering tickets before going to the port. This can also minimize the occurrence of queues at ticketing counters at the port. (Ed. Note: After the jump, the start of this article says that the new ticketing policy began yesterday, but an update is posted further down clarifying that the change will not go into effect until August 25. I have altered the headline here accordingly.)
"Bali Punk Rock Musician Jerinx Detained Over Allegedly Defamatory Post About Indonesian Doctors Association" from Coconuts: Balinese punk rock icon I Gede Ari Astina, who is more commonly known as Jerinx or JRX, has reportedly been detained over a social media post deemed insulting by the Balinese chapter of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI)... Yuliar Kus Nugroho, who heads the criminal investigation unit at Bali Police, confirmed the detainment today. “He is [a suspect]; he fulfilled the police summon with the status of a suspect, we have investigated, and there is evidence and the criminal offense element was confirmed,” Yuliar said, adding that his detainment began yesterday.
"Opened July 31, 2,500 Domestic Tourists Visiting Bali per Day" from Kumparan (Indonesian): Head of the Bali Provincial Tourism Office, I Putu Astawa, said that tourists visiting Bali every day have increased. Since opening at the end of last July, Bali has received tourists from the land route as many as 2,000 to 2,500 people every day... Previously the Island of the Gods only received 700 to 900 people per day. He said that natural tourist destinations, such as beaches, lakes and botanical gardens were the tourist attractions most visited by tourists.
"A Month Since Reopening, Pandawa Beach Still Struggling" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Wayan Kasim, Pandawa Tourism Object Manager, revealed that since tourist attractions in Bali were closed on March 23, daily income in Pandawa has decreased drastically. For 70 employees, because the area has been quiet since it was closed, working hours are regulated or divided by two shifts... The number of visits, which are 80% dominated by local tourists to Pandawa, also has an impact on total income. In the months of July - August monthly revenue is only Rp. 100 million. In the past or before the pandemic, Pandawa beach could generate Rp. 600 million a month from parking tickets, event revenue and others. "That's why since the pandemic, employees can only be paid basic salaries," he concluded.
"Apart from COVID-19, Tabanan is Also Haunted by the Dangers of Tuberculosis" from The IDN Times (Indonesian): Tuberculosis (TB) is still haunting public health in Tabanan Regency. Because of that the government issued a 1,000 door-knock program to find TB cases directly in the family environment. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this activity has been temporarily halted. Before the program's halt, health workers in Tabanan had found 109 TB cases... According to the TB program holder in the P2M Health Office of Tabanan, Wayan Widiartini, some community health centers in Tabanan had already carried out 1,000 door knocking activities before the COVID-19 outbreak. However, there are some other health centers that have not done so. Community visits to puskesmas have also decreased. So that the discovery of TB in the community is currently judged to be ineffective.
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.
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This newsletter is a product of Migration Media, the hub for stories from and about the international migrant experience.
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