Thursday, September 24
Outbreak at Denpasar Imigrasi office as 6 staff test positive + People aged 20-29 dominate new cases + Badung Vice Regent wants tougher restrictions & says schools there closed until 2021 + 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: Indonesia set a new record with well over 4,400 new cases confirmed yesterday, just two days after its last record-setting total of 4,100, and the sixth time it’s hit a new daily high this month. Yesterday was also the second-worst day for deaths, with 140. Click here to see the national numbers infographic along with the Regency-by-Regency breakdown of yesterday’s local numbers + trendlines in our evening update.
The Big News
IMMIGRATION ALERT: Officials in Denpasar's Imigrasi office have announced that a total of six (6) staff there have tested positive for Covid-19. The office re-opened on Monday after it had been closed for several days for sterilization in response to several workers there being exposed and ten (10) giving reactive results to swab tests. To prevent further outbreaks, the reservation system has been modified to allow no more than 100 people per day to come into the office so that social distancing can be strictly enforced. More details here. (Ed. Note: If you or anyone you’ve been in close contact with was in the Denpasar Imigrasi office last week, you should absolutely get tested.)
"Covid-19 Cases in Bali Dominated By Ages of 20-29 Years" from iNews Bali (Indonesian): Bali Province's Covid-19 Task Force conveyed new facts regarding patients infected with the corona virus. The positive cases of Covid-19 in Bali are currently dominated by the 20-29 age group. The number of Covid-19 sufferers from this age group reached 1,701 people, or 20.93% of the total positive cases in Bali. Task Force head Dewa Indra explained that the next largest number is from the 30-39 year age group. From this group there were 1,593 people. Next, the 50-59 year age group is 1,498 people, and the 40-49 year old group is 1,497 people.
"Not Wanting A New Cluster, Vice Regent of Badung Asks for A Tightening of Health Protocols" from iNews Bali (Indonesian): Deputy Regent of Badung, I Ketut Suiasa, said "There must be mutual awareness to be disciplined and adhere to health protocols. If you want this pandemic outbreak to end quickly." He noted that Covid-19 cases have increased significantly since the government implemented a new life adaptation or "New Normal." Not only positive cases, an increase also occurred in cases of death. He said that there needs to be cooperation between the government and the community to break the chain of transmission. Cooperation is important so that there are no new clusters, considering that the current pandemic has paralyzed some community activities.
(Ed. Note: These remarks come as at least 100 cases in the Regency have been traced to religious ceremonies, and a full 55% of recent new infections have been traced to family clusters. More on that can be read here.)
"Vice Regent Suiasa: Learning from Home in Badung Conducted Until December [2020]" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): The learning process at home in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic will continue in Badung, until December 2020. This was said by the Deputy Regent of Badung, I Ketut Suiasa. "This kind of online education activity will last until December 2020 with a re-evaluation depending on the development conditions of Covid-19," he said.
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Other Headlines
"Indonesia Has Entered A Recession, Confirms Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani" from Bali Plus: Indonesia has entered a recession. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati confirmed the dire prediction that occurred during Q3 of 2020. “The Ministry of Finance, which previously announced the economy in the third quarter shifted from minus 1.1% to positive 0.2%; the latest as of September 2020 was minus 2.9% to minus 1.0%. Negative territory in the Q3 shall continue to the Q4. “But we are trying to get closer to zero,” Sri Mulyani said... In the first quarter of 2020, the economy was still in positive territory at 2.97%, while the economy in the second quarter of 2020 was minus 5.32%. Two consecutive negative economic quarters (or contraction), confirm that Indonesia has entered a recession.
"Klungkung Regional Hospital Proposes the Procurement of PCR Tools to Quickly Test Swabs" from The IDN Times (Indonesian): Currently, swab tests for COVID-19 patients in Klungkung are considered less effective because the samples still have to be sent to Bali Mandara Hospital Denpasar, and the results only came out two days later, even up to five days. "We plan to build a special building for the implementation of this swab test, along with other supporting facilities," said Dr. I Nyoman Kesuma, Director of Klungkung Regional Hospital. The proposed procurement of the PCR equipment alone was worth Rp. 2.9 [b]illion. Plus the buildings and supporting facilities, the total is around Rp. 3.5 billion.
"25,000 Elementary School Students in Buleleng Having Difficulty Accessing Online Learning" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): The difficulty was not only triggered by the problem of the availability of tools for learning. But also the availability of proper network access to support the learning process. Data collected by Jawa Pos Radar Bali shows that there are 6,732 students at the junior high school level who have difficulty accessing online learning. This amount covers 16% of the total junior high school students in Buleleng. Meanwhile, for the elementary level, there are 21,079, or 36% of all students, who cannot access online learning... Made Astika claims Disdikpora has carried out a mapping of the problem and the potential to overcome it. "It's not just a matter of device availability. But also the internet signal problem. After we did the mapping and breakdown the problem, there is a signal problem too. Indeed, we mostly encounter this problem in areas where the internet signal is unstable," he said.
"27.5% of Covid Cases in Denpasar are from Office Clusters, GTPP Notes" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): After markets, clusters of new cases centered on offices have emerged as the dominant source of Covid-19 cases in Denpasar. Spokesperson for the Denpasar Covid-19 Task Force (GTPP), I Dewa Gede Rai, said that based on the latest data, the number of clusters among market traders has declined... Based on data from September 1 to 18, 2020, Covid-19 cases were recorded in Denpasar, which came from private employees and BUMN, namely 138 people or 27.5% of the total number of 501 cases. The rest are divided into several professional clusters, namely civil servants, military / police, retirees, medical personnel, domestic workers, traders, housewives and other professions.
"Now, Free, Regular COVID-19 Tests for Healthcare Workers" from Antara: "The COVID-19 task force is committed to providing protection to healthcare workers, who are the last guard in handling COVID-19, by providing free swab tests to them on a regular basis," Wiku Adisasmito, spokesperson for the task force, said at an online press conference at the Presidential Office here on Tuesday. Free swab tests will be carried out starting Tuesday for healthcare workers in the Greater Jakarta (Jabodetabek) area. "Furthermore, we will also carry out free swab tests in other provinces, especially in the red zone regions (with high risk of) of COVID-19 (transmission),” he added.
"Officials Launch Another ‘We Love Bali’ Program to Promote Tourism Amid COVID-19 Pandemic" from Coconuts: Officials from the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy and Bali Tourism Agency announced that the We Love Bali program will take place for two months starting October, wherein around 4,400 people will be invited to get involved... Participants, whose age ranges between 18 and 50 years old, will be facilitated with accommodation, food, transportation, and even rapid tests, among other things. They will be divided into groups as they travel across different parts of Bali, and are expected to come from different segments of society, including travel agencies, college students, photographers and influencers.
"Protecting Women's Rights, DPRD Buleleng Submits Draft Regional Regulation on Gender Equality" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): The local regulation draft will discuss the position, role and quality of women, and guarantee the same rights between women and men to realize gender equality and justice in development. This Draft Local Regulation is also to provide a legal basis and guidelines to local governments and non-government organizations, ensuring that the entire process of administering government administration, development, and services to the community is increasingly responsive to gender... "This Draft Local Regulation is a reinforcement that women can get the right of protection, the same access as men. Women can also become policy makers. So this is the basis for women and men alike,” said Chairman of Commission IV DPRD Buleleng, Luh Hesti Ranitasari.
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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