Thursday, November 26
Country sets new daily case record + Mass swab testing programs across island in danger as reagent is running out + Jembrana outbreak rages with 92 cases found in 5 days + 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
"Indonesia Breaks Daily Record with 5,534 New Coronavirus Cases" from The Jakarta Post: Indonesia logged yet another record in daily coronavirus infections on Wednesday as the national COVID-19 task force confirmed 5,534 new cases over the past 24 hours, shortly after the country observed several mass gathering violations. The previous record was on Nov. 13 when authorities confirmed 5,444 new cases across the archipelago, two weeks after a long weekend in late October. The new cases on Wednesday bring the overall tally to 511,836 cases nationwide.
(Ed. Note: While not setting records, the number of cases in Bali has been creeping steadily upwards over the last several weeks. On November 2, Bali reported 39 cases and had a 7-day average of 56; both were the lowest numbers seen since August 21, just before the post-holiday spike. Yesterday, the island’s 7-day average had climbed to 89, with 100+ cases being reported on two of the last 5 days. Wear a mask. Don’t hug people.)
"Reagent Stock Out, Mass Swab Test for ASN, TNI and Polri in Buleleng Bali Stopped" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): The implementation of mass swab tests for the State Civil Apparatus (ASN), TNI and Polri in Buleleng Regency , Bali has been temporarily suspended. This happened because the stock of reagents ran out, both in the district and province. Sekda Buleleng, as well as Secretary of the Task Force-19 Handling Covid Buleleng, Gede Suyasa said endless stock of reagents for the implementation of the swab test this mass occurs since a week ago. His party has also written to the Provincial Task Force to provide reagents, but the provincial government also admits that the stock of special reagents for this mass swab test activity is also currently empty or running out.
"Number Of KPPS in Jembrana Confirmed Positive for Covid-19 Reaches 32 People" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): All voting organizers (KPPS) and linmas for the Jembrana Pilkada have all undergone a rapid test. Of the total 5,760 people, 201 were reactive and after being followed up with a temporary swab test, 32 people were confirmed positive for Covid-19. KPU commissioner Jembrana I Made Widiastra said that any KPPS who has tested positive will be replaced. The replacement must also undergo a rapid test, if followed up with a positive swab, it will be replaced again.
(Ed. Note: Jembrana logged another 25 infections yesterday and has added 92 cases in the last 5 days. Many of these are coming from contact tracing conducted on the election workers who have tested positive. Additional cases are being detected via its mass swab testing program, which has just been accelerated to include people found through contact tracing, as well as all police officers and government employees.)
>> 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
"New Virus Clusters Might Emerge Following School Reopening Next Year: Task Force" from The Jakarta Post: National COVID-19 task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito has warned of potential new clusters emerging at schools, after the central government gave regional administrations permission to resume on-campus learning in January 2021. Wiku said in-classroom teaching could not be done instantaneously and should be carried out according to strict health protocols. "Schools could become COVID-19 clusters if they don't follow health protocols. They need to fulfill several requirements before conducting in-person teaching," he said... Wiku explained that schools wishing to reopen should be able to provide clean toilets, handwashing facilities, hand sanitizer stations, disinfectants and thermoguns, and have access to health facilities. They are also required to make mask-wearing mandatory in and around the school premises. He also advised schools to limit classroom capacities, implement learning in shifts or batches and ban activities that could potentially create crowds.
"Police Detain 17 Over Charges of Spreading Hoaxes on COVID-19" from Antara: Some of the hoaxes pertained to false information about people succumbing to COVID-19, when in fact, they died of other causes. The other false information was that about the spread of COVID-19 not aligning with the official data, foreign nationals to Indonesia being carriers of COVID-19, doctored photos linked to COVID-19, and humiliation of state officials, among others. Chief of the Public Information Bureau of the Public Relations Division at the National Police Brigadier General Awi Setiyono noted that the suspects are charged under Articles 28 and 45 of the Electronic Information and Transaction Law, Articles 14 and 15 of Law No. 1 of 1946, and Article 16 of Law on Eliminating Discrimination against Races and Ethnic Groups.
"Indonesian Maritime Affairs Minister Arrested by Anti-Graft Agency" from The Jakarta Globe: The Corruption Eradication Agency, or KPK, confirmed that it has arrested Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Edhy Prabowo for graft allegation early on Wednesday. The minister was arrested upon arrival at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport from an overseas trip. Local media reports said Edhy was arrested in connection to illegal exports of lobster larvae. The Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) politician has been in office since October last year, replacing Susi Pudjiastuti. If his case is confirmed, he will become the third active minister in the President Joko Widodo cabinet to be implicated with corruption charges.
(Ed. Note: A total of 17 people have been arrested in connection with this scheme so far.)
"End of Year Holidays, Tanah Lot Managers Target 2,000 Visitors Per Day" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian): The manager of the Tanah Lot tourist destination (DTW), Beraban Village, Kediri District, Tabanan, requires strict implementation of health protocols (prokes), namely wearing masks, washing hands, and maintaining distance. "During the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of visits by domestic tourists from various regions outside Bali who visited Tanah Lot attractions is increasing every day," said Tanah Lot Operations Manager Ketut Toya Adnyana... Toya Adnyana admitted that his party was trying to prevent the transmission of the Corona virus (Covid-19) in the Tanah Lot tourist attraction by enforcing fairly strict health protocol rules. "Tourists are required to have masks and keep their distance. Tourists who come to our place for vacation must obey these rules, that's an absolute requirement," he said.
"Indonesia Prepares for 5G with Frequency Auctions" from Indonesia Expat: The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has opened an auction for the use of 2.3 GHz radio frequency band in the range of 2,360-2,390 MHz. These frequencies will be used by mobile operators to encourage the adoption of 5G networks in Indonesia. The process is one of the ways to support digital transformation in the economic, social, and government sectors because there are still radio frequency blocks that remain unallocated. According to the Head of the Selection Team, Denny Setiawan, the process can only be followed by telecommunications operators who already have a Cellular Mobile Network Operation License.
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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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.
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