Tuesday, June 23
Photos of foreigners flooding beaches & yoga events going viral, angering locals + U.S. CDC to study island's infection rates + Main Covid hospital in Gianyar running out of isolation beds + more!
Good morning! Welcome to the COVID-19 Update for Bali for Tuesday, June 23. Please subscribe and share it with others in the foreigner community on the island. I happily put this daily newsletter together as a public service, and it will be free so long as the current emergency lasts. *A paid subscription is NOT required to access this content.* When signing up, select the "None" option and you'll get it delivered to your Inbox each day. But if you would like to support my work, please consider taking up a voluntary subscription at US$5/month. Thanks!
Status Update
National Numbers:
Bali Numbers:
New Infections by Regency
Overall Confirmed Cases Distribution:
Key: Red = Infected | Green = Recovered | Black = Died
Bali 30-Day Trends:
More details on the locations of positive cases within each Regency, as well as the number of suspected cases ("ODP") and people under in-patient observation ("PDP"), can be found in charts & infographics on the websites of each Regency's Covid-19 Task Force:
Badung | Bangli | Buleleng | Denpasar City | Gianyar | Jembrana | Karangasem | Klungkung | Tabanan
Sources:
The national update comes from the Indonesia National Disaster Management Agency: @BNPB_Indonesia
The Bali Numbers infographic comes from the Bali Provincial Government COVID-19 Task Force (link).
The Total Confirmed Cases Distribution map & Regency Numbers figures come from the Bali Provincial Government's data collection department (link).
The 30-day trend charts have been compiled using daily government data.
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 fund 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.
The Big News
"Bali Yoga Retreat Angers Many After Lying About Mass Gathering of Chanting Foreigners" from Triple J Hack: House of Om, a 'spiritual community' and business founded by a yoga instructor from Dubai, invited the public to "invite as many friends and family as you want" and hoped to see more than 100 turn up. At least that many answered the call. The mostly white, Western devotees sung together, swaying, without face masks or social distancing, for several hours... The House of Om incident has angered those on the island who believe some foreigners are not taking the pandemic seriously enough. One unidentified person, posting in response to the House of Om outcry, captured this sense of entitled exceptionalism: "Don't you see your people are totally dependent on foreigners. No tourists and they can't even get food to feed their families... without active foreigners here Bali will be f***ed completely."
"Beach in Kuta Still Closed, Tourists Have Lots of Activity" from Bali Express (Indonesian): Badung Kasatpol PP, IGAK Suryanegara, has not denied that over the past few days many people have come to the beach. But he stressed, the Badung regency government had not opened access to the coast. "No, the beach hasn't opened yet," he said... Because of the Badung Tourism Department's announcement of their plan to ease access to the beach, there may be a misunderstanding, as if the beach had been opened. So many people go to the beach, especially for trips. "About that, it's better to immediately confirm with Pak Kadispar. What is clear, as far as we know, there is no opening of access to the beach in Badung," he said. Meanwhile, Kadispar Badung, I Made Badra, asserted that it has not officially opened the beach access or tourist attractions in Badung.
"US Scientists Seek Answers to Bali's Covid-19 Secret" from The Asia Times: The highly-regarded, Atlanta-based institution will help Indonesia’s Health Ministry and local partners to measure the presence of SARS-CoV2 antibodies in an effort to determine the proportion of the population that has had a prior infection. It will be the first scientific initiative to try and answer the question of why the popular tourist destination — originally feared to be a virus Petri dish — has so far had only 895 confirmed infections and six confirmed deaths over the four-month lockdown, along with 553 recoveries... The Balinese medical community remains sanguine about a pending health disaster. "We don't see it," says one doctor, whose private hospital is testing 100 patients a day, mostly for employment or travel reasons. "We would welcome a CDC study."
A REMINDER:
In addition to maintaining social distancing (and certainly not participating in any group gatherings) recent studies have confirmed that it is imperative that everyone wear masks when out in public. You can read a great summary of why this is here. Here’s the most important bit from that piece:
Take, for example, a meta-analysis of 172 studies that looked at various interventions to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, SARS and MERS from an infected person to people close to them. The analysis, which was published in The Lancet on June 1, found that mask wearing significantly reduces the risk of viral transmission.
Here’s a handy illustration:
Other Headlines
"Isolation Room At Sanjiwani Regional Hospital Down to Only 5 Beds As Covid-19 Patients in Gianyar Continue to Increase" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): Of the total number of Covid-19 patients in Gianyar, not all of them are being treated at Sanjiwani Regional Hospital [the Regency's main Covid-19 referral hospital]. If all are accommodated in Sanjiwani Regional Hospital , the number of beds available is insufficient... Based on data from Sanjiwani Regional Hospital, currently the number of isolation beds for Covid-19 patients is only 15. With 10 beds filled - three are being used by patients under surveillance (PDP) and seven are being used by positive patients - only five beds remain.
"219 Residents of Tegal Wangi III Village in Denpasar Declared Non-reactive After Rapid Testing" from Antara (Indonesian): "Rapid tests were carried out because previously there were five people in the alley who were positive for COVID-19," said Sesetan Urban Village Chief, Ketut Sri Karyawati. He said that since Saturday, access into, out of, and around the alley area has been closed. In accordance with an agreement with the city's Covid-19 Task Force and the local banjar, the area will remain closed for 14 days until conditions are truly safe.
"18 Bangli Residents Test Positive, 15 Infected Via Local Transmission" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): Public Relations officer for Bangli's Covid-19 Task Force, Wayan Dirgayusasaid, said that among the positive cases, 14 of them were from Banjar Abuan Kangin "The 14 positive cases in Banjar Abuan Kangin are local transmission cases, which is a development of the case of a health worker in a Private Hospital in Gianyar, and all occurred in one yard," he said.
"Religious Activities in Houses Of Worship Must Be Licensed by Covid-19 Task Force" from Berita Bali (Indonesian): Head of the Ministry of Religion Office, Badung Agung Gede Manguningrat, said, "Places of worship that wish to hold worship ceremonies, must get permission from the task forces of both the District and Regency." Related to this, his office has conducted socialization to several places of worship and some have submitted applications to carry out worship.
"With Discontinuation of Free Rapid Testing for Drivers, Prices of Staples in Bali Could to Rise" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Not all daily needs can be met in Bali. A small example is milk. In some supermarkets and modern stores in Bali, some brands of milk for children are becoming scarce. With the termination of the free rapid test, it is feared that the supply to consumers will be disrupted... Because the operational costs for logistics, especially basic necessities are more expensive because they have to incur additional costs for rapid tests. "We still need to first look at price developments in Jembrana, especially basic needs from outside Jembrana. Next we will prepare a scheme to anticipate this price increase," said Kadis Koperasi, Small and Medium Enterprises, Industry and Trade Jembrana Komang Agus Adinata.
"Menkumham: The Arrival of Foreign Citizens Declines Significantly" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): Minister of Law and Human Rights (Menkumham), Yasonna Hamonangan Laoly, has revealed data on the arrival of foreign nationals to the country from March 1 to June 10, and the numbers have decreased significantly from the January and February totals:
Free of Visit Visas (BVK): from 254,899 to 847
Visa on Arrival (VOA): from 12,955 to 0
Limited Stay Visa (VITAS): from 4,522 to 94
In addition, when compared to 2019, there has been a sharp decline in foreigners coming in via VISA agreements in 2020. "For VISA, the stay for limited foreign workers decreased by 63.5% or 25,459 foreigners. For VISA visits for foreign workers decreased by 54.9% or 15,847 foreigners," said Yasonna.
Non-Covid News of Note
"18 Shops Burned In Large Fire At Baturiti Market" from The Bali Sun: Losses are expected to be in the hundreds of millions IDR. "There are dozens of shops that were burnt down due to the incident. At the moment we are still investigating the causes and losses," said Baturiti Police Chief, AKP Fachmi Hamdani. According to officials, 12 shops were completely destroyed while 6 suffered minor damage.
Resources
Important information for foreigners who are staying on the island, such as designated COVID-19 hospitals and emergency contact numbers, can be found by following this link.
The government has cancelled its visa-on-arrival process and rolled out enhanced entry requirements for people traveling to Indonesia; they have also granted automatic extensions to most foreigners who are still in the country on temporary stay visas. You can see a (translated) list of all of the relevant regulations on the Directorate General of Immigration & Ministry of Law and Human Rights' website here.
Local travel website Traveloka has a helpful page with a summary of what’s needed to travel to and within the country. You can also order a rapid test or swab (PCR) test via their platform: Link
The British Embassy in Jakarta has recently posted a great summary of the Indonesian government's travel restrictions on their Facebook page. You can read it here.
The EU has launched a website to help travelers stay informed about how member states will be accelerating the reopening of their borders. Through the “EU Re-open” website, travelers can enter the name of the country they wish to visit and find out the rules that will apply after each place's coronavirus lockdown. Information on the EU Re-open website and app will continue to be updated in line with the developments of the coronavirus pandemic.
If you are trying to plan travel anywhere, here are some of the best up-to-date resources that can help you:
IATA Travel Center Update - The International Air Transport Association is the global lobbying body for the aviation industry. Their Travel Information Manual Automatic (Timatic) database feeds into airlines' reservation systems, so it is the most reliable list of flight restrictions around.
Revolver Maps' Travel Restrictions Database - This list pulls directly from IATA's Timatic database and arranges the countries in lists that are easier to navigate and creates share-able links for every country. NOTE: This is a third-party service and they warn that the updates to their system can be delayed by several hours for certain countries.
Al Jazeera Travel Restriction & Border Shutdown Tracker - A companion list that includes less technical summaries of each country's travel restrictions, beyond just flights and airport access.
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 will 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.