Thursday, August 20
Klungkung Hospital Covid ward at capacity; VIP rooms now being used for new patients + Buleleng school reopening cancelled as case numbers rise + Govt says majority of infected are under 40 + more!
Good morning! Welcome to The Bali Beat for Thursday, August 20. 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 (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 VIP Room Becomes Covid-19 Patient Isolation Suite" from Radar Bali(Indonesian): As of Tuesday, Klungkung Regional Hospital has 26 suspect patients and 51 positive confirmed patients who are being treated. The hospital's Covid-19 ward is at capacity, even though 8 suspected Covid-19 cases have not yet received an isolation room. In fact, two of them require treatment in the ICU... Seeing this condition and the trend of Covid-19 cases which are still increasing in Klungkung, the Director of Klungkung Regional Hospital, Dr. Nyoman Kesuma, with the approval of Klungkung Regent I Nyoman Suwi, has decided to use the pavilion, or VIP room, as an isolation room for Covid-19 patients, even though the VIP room is an important source of revenue for the Klungkung Regional Hospital.
"Buleleng's Plan to Open Face-to-Face Schools Canceled" from Radar Bali(Indonesian): The government's plan to open educational institutions during the pandemic had to be abandoned. Because now Buleleng is included in the orange zone. The option to open a school will be discussed again after Buleleng returns to the green zone... Previously, the government planned to open all educational institutions this month. Because for several months Buleleng managed to survive in the green zone. However, in the last two weeks, Buleleng's condition has deteriorated. From the green zone directly into the orange zone. As a result, plans to open schools had to be postponed.
"GTPP Bali: The Number of COVID-19 Cases is Predominantly Aged 20-29 Tears" from Antara (Indonesian): "Of the total number of positive cases of COVID-19 in Bali, which are cumulatively 4,220 people, the 20-29 year old COVID-19 sufferers are 21.44% [904]," said Chairperson of Bali's Covid-19 Task Force (GTPP), Dewa Made Indra... GTPP Bali details positive patients with COVID-19, with age groups outside of 20-29 years, namely for ages or ages 0-9 years (206), ages 10-19 years (287), ages 30-39 years (796), age 40-49 years (763), 50-59 years old (748), 60-69 years old (345), 70-79 years old (127), and 80-89 years old (36).
>> Classifieds <<
Business is tough in the best of times, but these days- Wow. Thankfully, there’s a supportive spirit among the foreigners who remain in Bali; this newsletter is proof. If you’ve got a product or service that needs local support to succeed, let this community know about it here.
Other Headlines
"Suspected Terrorist Arrested in Denpasar, Once Joined Camp in Tabanan" from Berita Bali (Indonesian): A terrorist suspect with the initials RB, 27 years old, in Denpasar, Bali, was arrested by the National Police's Special Detachment 88 Anti-terror Team on July 23. RB is a member of the [Islamic State-affiliated] Jamaah Ansharut Daulah group. Head of the Public Information Bureau of the Public Relations Division of the Police Headquarters, Brigadier General Awi Setiyono, said that RB has been actively distributing content with radical content since 2017. "For example, sharing videos about ISIS, Aman Abdurrahman, bomb making tutorials, and others, through social media, Telegram and Facebook."
"Contact Tracing in Denpasar District Court Uncovers 15 Reactive Employees, Including Traders in Canteen" from Berita Bali (Indonesian): "15 people who were reactive, we don't know the results of the swab. Meanwhile, only five people are known to be positive,” said Panitra Secretary, Maltida Tampubolon. He emphasized that the closure of services applies to service registration for cases and trials with a long detention period, as well as for civil case trials . Meanwhile, general criminal services, whose detention period is approaching the end, are still implemented with strict health protocols.
"Superman Is Dead 25th Anniversary at Twice Bar Disbanded by Police" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): Twice Bar is a nightclub belonging to Superman Is Dead drummer I Gede Ari Astina, also known as Jerinx SID, who is currently being held at the Polda Bali remand center... According to Kuta Police Chief, Kompol Teuku Ricki Fadlianshah, the event was disbanded because when the activity took place, the people present did not comply with health protocols. In fact, during the activity, visitors did not apply health protocols. The event violated the covid-19 countermeasures protocol and did not have a crowd permit.
"Luhut: Calm Down; We Don't Want to Rush the Bali Opening for Foreign Tourists" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): "Not yet. Just wait for the domestic first, be calm. We don't want to rush, so some say we don't pay attention to Covid. Instead, we are careful. But be careful not to overdo what can be done, yes. Yes, it will also die if it closes completely or locks down so we don't choose it (lockdown)," said Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister for Martim and Investment... Luhut said that the current handling of Covid-19 in Bali is good. "Covid-19 in Bali is good at handling. The recovery rate is 87%, up from last month. I was here at 84 %, so it's pretty good," said Luhut.
"692 Unauthorized Hotels and Restaurants in Klungkung Bali" from The IDN Times (Indonesian): Hotels and restaurants in Klungkung Regency are largely unlicensed. This makes it difficult for the tourist accommodation managers to process the health protocol certification... Acting Head of the Klungkung Tourism Office, Ida Bagus Mas Ananda, said that of the total 490 hotels and bungalows in Klungkung, there are 374 unlicensed accommodations. Meanwhile, of the total 348 restaurants scattered throughout Klungkung, 318 accommodations are not licensed. So that overall of the 928 tourist accommodation hotels and restaurants, 692 of them have not been licensed.
"After Exceeding Period of Stay, French Citizen Deported" from The IDN Times (Indonesian): French citizen Gerard Claude Philippe Le Bourvellec (59) violated Article 78 Paragraph (3) of Law Number: 6 of 2011 concerning Immigration. From his passport records, he entered Indonesia on October 24, 2017. "In connection with the residence permit and the validity period has ended, and is still in the territory of Indonesia more than 60 (sixty) days from the deadline of the residence permit," said I Putu Surya Dharma, Public Relations Officer for the Bali Provincial Office of Regional Law and Human Rights. The immigration authorities then took administrative action in the form of deportation.
"Air Traffic Will Not Return to Pre-COVID-19 Levels Until 2024: IATA" from Kyodo News: The International Air Transportation Association (IATA) now expects the number of global passengers to fall 55% in 2020, sharper than its April forecast of a 46% drop. "The slow speed of improvement is telling us that the recovery will take a year longer than we previously expected," Alexandre de Juniac, director general of the IATA, said... Passenger traffic, measured in the total distance flown by passengers, tanked 86.5% in June from a year earlier following a plunge of 91.0% in May, as many countries imposed travel restrictions to curb the virus spread.
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.
Our standards
We only include news items from established media sources
We do not share rumors.
We do not include opinion pieces or forecasts.
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.
For any questions, comments or tips, please contact us at newsletter@migrationmedia.net.