Tuesday, January 12
Vaccine approved for use; Bali to start vaccinations on Thursday + Ban on foreigners entering country extended to Jan. 28 + Ferry traffic drops & police patrols increase as lockdown rolls out + more!
Good morning! Welcome to The Bali Beat for Tuesday, January 12! If you’re not a subscriber, sign up here to get this update delivered directly to your Inbox every Monday-Friday 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
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: Bali - and Denpasar - set a new record for cases a single day yesterday as infections continue to outpace recoveries and the total number of people in treatment also reached new heights. While the precise number of hospitalizations vs. isolations is not regularly released, yesterday officials in Jembrana detailed a plan to house patients at private hospitals because the public hospitals, community health centers, and isolation hotels are already full after the recent rise in cases there.
Click here to see the national numbers infographic and a Regency-by-Regency breakdown of yesterday’s local numbers. And in case you missed it, check out Sunday’s update for a summary of last week’s overall totals, with perspective on how they stack up against previous weeks + detailed breakdowns of the virus’ spread on a Regency-by-Regency level.
The Big News
"Indonesia Green-lights Emergency Use of Chinese Vaccine" from The Associated Press: “Based on the data and considering the guidance from (the World Health Organization), CoronaVac has met the requirements to get the permit to use the vaccine,” the chief of Indonesia Food and Drug Monitoring Agency, Penny Lukito, said. The vaccine was cleared for emergency use after Indonesian authorities reviewed clinical trial data from Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia, which are all taking part in Phase III clinical trials of the vaccine:
Brazil’s Instituto Butantan said last week that the vaccine was 78% effective in mild cases and 100% effective against severe and moderate infections based on 220 COVID-19 cases from 13,000 volunteers.
In December, Turkish authorities announced an efficacy rate of 91.25% from interim analysis of 29 cases in a trial with 7,371 volunteers. Some 12,450 volunteers, including 1,500 healthcare workers, are involved in the Phase III clinical trials. Further results have not been made publicly available.
Indonesia conducted its own Phase III clinical trials of the vaccine with 1,620 volunteers. Results announced at Monday’s news conference said the efficacy rate was 65.3%.
Context: Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan confirmed that the vaccination program will begin on Jan. 13. President Joko Widodo is scheduled to be the first recipient, with widespread vaccinations to kick off within 24-48 hours. Health officials in Bali said that they will start on Jan. 14. Also, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin announced the delivery of raw materials needed to produced 15 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine. It will be used by state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma Perseo to produce doses domestically, speeding the vaccination program.
"Indonesia Extends 14-Day Entry Ban on Foreign Arrivals" from The Jakarta Globe: "President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has agreed to extend the entry ban on foreigners. It is currently in effect from January 1 to January 14. We will extend it by 14 days [until January 28th, 2021]," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said.
LOCKDOWN UPDATE: Ferry traffic has slowed dramatically, with an official at Gilimanuk Port saying, "The number of people and private vehicles has decreased significantly when compared to normal conditions." The Integrated Post of police, port officials, and medical personnel at the port that had been administering free Rapid Antigenn tests to delivery truck rivers has been disbanded. All people traveling to the island will require negative results form a swab test within 48 hours of travel or an antigen test within 24 hours before being allowed access. Meanwhile, patrols and inspections have been stepped up at Padangbai Port in Karangasem. While authorities have said that, in general, they are more focused on checking on businesses to make sure they are adhering to health protocols and new business hours restrictions than setting up roadblocks, Bali Police, along with TNI-Polri and regional police, are also ramping up their daily patrols to monitor mask-wearing among the public, with Head of Satpol PP of Bali Province Dewa Nyoman Rai Dharmadi saying that surprise inspections and patrols will be carried out every day in different places from 09:00-11:00 and also 21:00-23:00. Patrols yesterday netted violators in Denpasar.
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Other Headlines
"Vice Minister of Law and Human Rights: Refusing Covid-19 Vaccination Can Be Convicted" from Kompas (Indonesian): Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights (HAM) Edward Hiariej stated that people who refuse Covid-19 vaccination can be sentenced to a maximum of 1 year in prison. Law Number 6 of 2018 concerning Health Quarantine. Article 93 of the law states, every person who does not comply with the administration of health quarantine and / or obstructs the implementation of health quarantine, causing a public health emergency can be sentenced to a maximum imprisonment of one year and / or a maximum fine of Rp. 100 million. "As far as possible, these sanctions are a last resort. What should be prioritized, persuasive in nature and more prioritized is socialization from friends of health workers," said Edward.
"The President Asked to Know That Tempe Would Not Be a Problem Anymore" from Antara (Indonesian): President Joko Widodo has asked that problems related to tofu and soybeans will no longer be a problem in Indonesia so that the problem of raw materials must be resolved with detailed agricultural development. "We know that in the last few weeks, matters relating to tofu and tempeh, soybeans have become a problem," said President Joko Widodo. He emphasized that in the conditions of the COVID-29 pandemic, the agricultural sector occupies an increasingly central position. As the world food agency FAO warns of a potential food crisis. "Be careful about this. Watch Out. As a result of restrictions on citizen mobility and even distribution of goods between countries, world food distribution has become constrained, and we know that in the last few weeks it has been a matter of tofu and tempe," he said.
"Gianyar Now Has Remote Traffic Control Center Room" from Bali Express (Indonesian): To monitor and control traffic (Lalin) at each intersection, Gianyar Regency is now equipped with the Central Area Traffic Control System (ATCS) Central Control Room which is centered at the Gianyar Regency Transportation Service Office. In addition, there is the addition of installing more sophisticated Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras with networks using fiber optic media at 5 (five) intersections. "With the help of cameras that are placed at the intersection, crossing activity can be monitored. Even controlled remotely, such as adjusting the cycle time of traffic light from the monitoring and control room," explained Deputy Head of Gianyar AA Gde Mayun.
"AP I Plans to Increase Parking Rates at the Airport" from Nusa Bali (Indonesian): Angkasa Pura I, as the manager of I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Tuban Village, Kuta District, Badung, plans to increase airport rates. In the letter, the tariff for two-wheeled parking is Rp. 4,000 in a period of 0 to 12 hours. After 12 hours, IDR 2,000 will be increased every hour. Then for four-wheeled vehicles, 0 to 1 hour is IDR 10,000. Furthermore, a rate of IDR 5,000 per hour will be charged. Likewise with six-wheeled vehicles, which is IDR 15,000 from 0 to 1 hour and an increase of IDR 5,000 per hour. Prior to the tariff adjustment per January 1, 2021, the parking rate for this two-wheeled vehicle was IDR 2,000 from 0 to 12 hours. Meanwhile, the previous four-wheeled vehicle was IDR 5,000.
"International Tourists Dominate Visits to Komodo Island" from Republika(Indonesia): he Komodo National Park Office noted that foreign tourists dominated the visit to the Komodo Island National Park area in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara during 2017-2020, totaling 348,459 people. "During the last four years (2017-2020), visits to Komodo National Park have been dominated by foreign tourists," said the Head of the Komodo National Park, Lukita Awang Nistyantara, Thursday (7/1). Of the 567,253 tourists who visited, he added, 348,459 of them were foreign tourists and the rest were domestic tourists.
"Bali Gets Manage 15,000 Hectares of Forest, Larger than Denpasar" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): For the Province of Bali, the government has granted a social forest management permit covering an area of 15,200 hectares for 55,300 households (KK). In addition, the Bali area also obtained a customary forest management permit covering an area of 621 hectares. The total is 15,821 hectares. This area is wider than the area of Denpasar City which is only 127.7 square kilometers, aka 12,770 hectares... In order for this program to produce optimal results, President Jokowi reminded that this activity should not only be interpreted as an event to give away SK. He will continue to check and ensure that the land that has been handed over for management is actually used for productive activities, is not neglected and is properly developed so that it has economic benefits for the community.
The View from Outside
"Sriwijaya Air Crash Places Indonesia's Aviation Safety Under Fresh Spotlight" from Reuters: Before the crash, there had been 697 fatalities in Indonesia over the last decade including military and private planes, making it the deadliest aviation market in the world - ahead of Russia, Iran and Pakistan - according to Aviation Safety Network’s database... Indonesia’s air safety record has improved in recent years, receiving a favourable evaluation by the United Nations aviation agency in 2018. But in a country with a large death toll from vehicle and ferry accidents, the safety culture is battling against a mindset that makes it inevitable for some crashes to occur, experts said.
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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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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