Thursday, December 3
Tabanan school outbreak causes island to smash single-day record for new cases + Govt says testing levels have reached WHO standards + Vaccination protocols announced: 2.6 million scheduled + more!
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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
"Soaring Again! Today's Active COVID-19 Cases in Bali Have Reached 1,053 People" from The IDN Times (Indonesian): The development of positive cases of COVID-19 in Bali Province on Wednesday recorded an increase of 202 people. The Head of the Bali Province Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), I Made Rentin, revealed that the addition of this many cases was because there were cadets at the Bali Polytechnic Official School of Land Transportation (Poltrada) in Sam-Sam Village, Tabanan who were positive for COVID-19. "The Ministry of Transportation's Poltrada Service School is half positive, the campus is in Samsam," he replied. Currently, there are 1,053 active cases (7.34% of total) that are being treated at 17 referral hospitals. In addition, there are also those who are quarantined at Bapelkesmas, UPT Nyitdah, Wisma Bima, and BPK Pering Education and Training Agency.
(Ed. Note: While the outbreak at the Transportation ministry’s boarding school in Tabanan added 107 cases to today’s total - and 23 yesterday - the number of cases island-wide would have been 95 without it, which is in line with the 7-day average of 99 that we were seeing in this current wave before this cluster emerged. Given that many of the cases at the school are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, the expansion of testing & tracing capabilities was key to the Task Force being able to identifying this cluster - which Task Force Secretary Dewa Made Indra called “expected” + hailed as an achievement - and is further evidence that any gathering of people presents a high risk of creating a superspreader event. The current number of active cases, 1,053, has nearly doubled since November 11, when it stood at 555, and is as high as it has been since October 12.)
"Indonesia's PCR Testing Level Reaches 90% of WHO Target' from Antara: "In the last week, we were able to break the targeted figure of 90% of the WHO target," said head of data and information technology at the COVID-19 task force, Dr. Dewi Nur Aisyah. The WHO has prescribed 1,000 tests per one million population per week, she informed. Based on the target set by the WHO, the COVID-19 task force said it had calculated that around 276,000 people out of 267 million Indonesians need to be tested per week. Based on this calculation, the task force noted, Indonesia’s national PCR testing levels were just 30% in July, 2020. The figure rose to 40% in August, 70% in September, 82% in October, and finally, 90% on November 28, this year.
(Ed. Note: According to Dr. Dewi Nur Aisyah, Bali is among 11 provinces that have achieved the WHO target for swab testing, with Jakarta testing 7 times as many people as needed. 13 other provinces have hit the 50% mark. While we know that a vast amount of testing capacity has been added on the island since the beginning of November, the actual number of tests conducted each day is rarely disclosed. Yesterday was no exception, as figures were not included in the state media pieces that tracked this announcement. While these testing achievements are a good thing, Indonesia still has a long way to go before it reaches a level of testing that will give it a good idea of just how widespread the virus is in many provinces.)
"Covid-19 Vaccine, Bali Health Office Records 2.6 Million Vaccination Recipients" from iNews Bali (Indonesian): As many as 2.6 million people [in the the 18-59 years age group] have been recorded as being targeted for vaccination in Bali. "In principle, we are ready to vaccinate as soon as the vaccine is available," said Head of the Bali Health Service, Ketut Suarjaya. "In accordance with the provisions of the central government, the government-borne free vaccine is prioritized for those who are at the forefront of handling and preventing Covid-19," he said. This includes medical personnel, TNI-Polri, and the Covid-19 Task Force along with other elements of officers who are in direct contact with the handling of Covid-19. "Apart from that, groups of people who are covered by the National Health Insurance (Jamkesnas) are also entitled to free vaccines. Apart from that, vaccinations are carried out independently," he said.
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Other Headlines
"Quarter III-2020, Bali's Economy Recorded Growth of 1.66% Compared to the Previous Quarter" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): The total economy of Bali in the third quarter of 2020 as measured by PDRB at the current price (ADHB) was recorded at IDR 55.37 trillion. Or if measured on the basis of constant prices (ADHK) in 2010, the GRDP of Bali was recorded at IDR 36.44 trillion. With these achievements, the Balinese economy in the third quarter of 2020 was recorded to have grown by 1.66% compared to the previous quarter (q-to-q). Meanwhile, when compared to the same period the previous year (y-on-y), the Balinese economy in the third quarter of 2020 recorded negative growth of -12.28%.
"After Six Months of Deflation, November Bali Experienced Inflation" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): Based on calculations from the inflation data for the City of Denpasar and Singaraja released by the Bali Provincial Statistics Agency, in November 2020 Bali Province experienced inflation of 0.22% (mtm), an increase after experiencing deflation of -0.24% (mtm) in the previous month. Annually, inflation in Bali was recorded at 0.81% (yoy), also lower than the national level at 1.59% (yoy)... The volatile food category experienced a 2.60% (mtm) increase in prices compared to the previous month. Price increases were seen for commodities of shallots, red chilies, broiler chicken, cayenne pepper, and garlic. The administered prices goods group recorded a decrease in prices of 0.24% (mtm). The decrease in price pressure in this group was due to lower air transportation and electricity tariffs.
"MPR: The Policy of Cutting Leave Must Be Followed By Controlling the Movement of the Masses" from Antara (Indonesian): Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Lestari Moerdijat, said that the government's plan to make a policy of cutting joint leave at the end of 2020 must be followed by the discipline of implementing a strict health protocol to control mass movement. "Without strict health protocols, efforts to cut joint leave at the end of the year will be in vain. The point is that there should be no crowds during the year-end holidays which have the potential to create a new cluster of COVID-19 transmission," said Lestari Moerdijat. He assessed that efforts to reduce holidays will not significantly reduce the spread of COVID-19 if stakeholders cannot control mass movements so that crowds are created in a number of places.
"Quarantine Place in Safe Tabanan, ASN Mass Swab Task Force Next Week" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Regarding additional quarantine places for Covid-19 patients from Tabanan, it has been backed up by the province. In accordance with the results of coordination with the Regional Secretary of the Province of Bali, they are invited to use hotels that are still empty, if the integrated hotels for Tabanan are full. “Regarding isolation there is no problem. So far the hotel for Tabanan is not full. If it is full, it will be backed up by the Province of Bali,” said Secretary of the Tabanan Covid-19 Task Force I Gede Susila... He added that to cut the spread of Covid-19, Tabanan is currently carrying out massive swab tests. In fact, to prevent the office cluster from expanding, next week there will be a swab of ASN Tabanan. "Hopefully next week's ASN swab can be implemented, TNI / Polri swab has been running, after that we will continue to ASN."
"After Refusing Rapid Test, KPU Tabanan Replaces 263 KPPS Members" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Hundreds of officials from the polling organization (KPPS) who should have started preparing to work on the vote on 9 December had to be replaced because they refused to undergo a rapid test. Whereas in the KPU regulations, every person who wants to become an officer of the polling organization (KPPS) is obliged to undergo a rapid test... Out of 10,170 KPPS officers including TPS policing officers (Linmas), around 263 KPPS officers have been replaced. "The KPPS officers were replaced on the grounds that they did not want to follow health protocols such as rapid tests, some resigned, the reason for starting to work in tourism and the indication of Covid-19 from the results of the examination conducted by the Tabanan Health Service," said the Chairperson of the Tabanan KPU I Gede Putu Weda Subawa.
"Pandemic, Cargo Entered Bali Only 82,000 Kg Per Day" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian): Cargo movement at Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport has experienced a drastic decline during the Covid-19 pandemic. The average daily cargo going into and out of the second busiest airport in Indonesia only reached 82,739 kilograms. Whereas before the pandemic, the movement of cargo reached 240,468 kg per day. If accumulated in a month, the cargo movement is only in the range of 2.5 tons in a month. Meanwhile, at the same record in 2019, it could reach reach 7.2 tons per month.
"Bali, NTB and NTT Experienced 331 Earthquakes During November" from The IDN Times (Indonesian): Seismicity data from the BMKG Regional Earthquake Center III (BMKG-PGR III) were successfully analyzed in the areas of Bali, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), and parts of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), there were 331 earthquakes. Eight incidents of which were felt by the community. The average number of earthquakes per month analyzed by BMKG-PGR III is 300 incidents. However, this number is not a benchmark, because it depends on the activity of the earth itself.
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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