Tuesday, November 17
2nd company announces 94% effective vaccine as Indonesia plans for distribution + Ubud cluster up to 44 cases, 400 more to be tested + Govt backtracks, says Christmas & New Year may be cxld + 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. 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
VACCINE UPDATE: The second western company to announce preliminary results from its Phase 3 trial, Moderna, has said that its vaccine has shown a 94.5% effectiveness rate so far. Like Pfizer, there is still more data to be crunched and government safety reviews to go though, but unlike Pfizer, their vaccine does not require storage at severely cold temperatures (-70°C) that would strain even the most advanced logistics systems- merely “very cold” temperatures (-20°C) that put it out of the reach of most developing countries. Neither companies’ studies have had their results peer reviewed yet, and neither company expects their vaccines to be widely available for months.
Meanwhile, public discussion of Indonesia’s Covid-19 vaccination program has gotten underway. On Friday, President Widodo announced that his government had begun the process of obtaining emergency approval of Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine, "CoronaVac," from the country’s Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM). If safety tests are successful, the plan is to distribute the first doses to medical workers, first responders, and military personnel by the third week of December, with the top priorities being arresting the virus’ spread in the worst-hit areas + establishing Bali as a Green Zone (so no local spread) by “early 2021.”
As noted in last Wednesday’s newsletter, the Phase 3 trial of CoronaVac hit a bit of a speedbump in Brazil last week, but it appears to be a political hiccup and not a medical one. The trial is also running here in Indonesia, and all accounts are that it is going smoothly. Preliminary results from the Brazil trials have shown it to be “the safest, the one with the best and most promising rates,” and the latest update on the Indonesian trial showed “no major red flags.”
The Chinese government actually skipped CoronaVac’s Phase 3 trial and issued emergency approval of the vaccine back in August. Sinovac has already administered the vaccine to 90% of its own employees and their families. Essential workers and high-risk groups across the China have been taking it for at least a month at a cost to the government of US$60 per dose, and anyone else who wants it has been able to get it for US$300 on a first-come, first-served basis.
Here in Bali, procedures are already being developed and vaccination drills are already being run locally, but no details have yet been released as to who on the island will get the vaccine first, what the distribution process will look like, what consequences will be meted out against those who decline to take it, or how foreigners will fit into the equation. Details will be carried in this space as they are made available.
"Increasingly, Tebongkang Residents Are Now 44 Positive Covid-19" from Bali Express (Indonesian): After the mass swab test was carried out in Banjar Tebongkang, Singakerta Village, Ubud District, Gianyar Regency, the result was another positive addition of Covid-19 residents. This positive case is from the cluster of two traditional ceremonies that were held in the local village. "Based on the results of the swab that was carried out a few days ago, there are now additional positive cases of Covid-19, a total of 44 cases," said Secretary of Gianyar Regency, Made Gede Wisnu Wijaya. "Currently, there are 22 people waiting for the test results, 44 positive cases because there are 7 additional cases. Meanwhile, 166 people tested negative," he explained. He explained, after the explosion of the positive case in Tebongkang, a mass swab test had been carried out. From the beginning, 75 people were swabbed with 100 people. Because of the target, and seeing the theory, the first three times the distribution should ideally be answered with a total of 400 people.
"Indonesia Warns of Potential to Cancel Christmas and New Year Holidays" from Indonesia Expat: The head of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Doni Monardo, has confirmed that in the last few days there has been a surge in COVID-19 cases in Indonesia. Continuing increases could result in the Task Force proposing to shorten or eliminate the year-end holidays... According to Doni, the addition of cases each day had reached a record high for the past eight months. However, this increase is still lower compared to the long holiday from late August to early September. He acknowledged that the task force is currently still following the situation for the next week. He said it remains to be seen whether the long holiday from late October to early November had an impact on the significant increase in cases or not.
(Ed. Note: This is a very quick about-face from the Task Force. Just yesterday, they said that they were looking into the possibility of extending the December & New Year holidays to encourage more travel.)
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Other Headlines
"Starting to Be Tested Today, the PCR Lab At Wangaya Denpasar Hospital in One Shift is Ready to Test 90 Samples" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): After a further visitation and after having been deemed appropriate by the Bali Provincial Health Office on Monday, the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Lab at Wangaya Hospital began to be tested. For this trial, it will be held for a week or until next Monday (23/11/2020). In one shift, the lab can test up to 90 samples. The test time for all the samples is 6 hours, so if the morning samples come in, the results will come out in the afternoon. "The time span is about 6 hours from testing, reading the test results to the reporting process," said I Dewa Gede Rai, spokesman for Denpasar's Covid-19 Task Force. The cost of setting up a room using one of the third floor rooms at Wangaya Hospital is IDR 150 million.
"After Rapid Tests, 137 Members of KPPS Reactive" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): Of the 5,760 KPPS people, 3,900 people have been undergoing rapid tests as of Monday. Rapid tests were conducted by the Jembrana Covid-19 Handling Acceleration Task Force carried out at each Puskesmas in each District. "We do this rapid test for all KPPS including Linmas, of which there are 5,760 KPPS people, 3,900 people who have been rapid, 3,778 people are inactive and 137 people are active," said a member of the KPU Division of Socialization, Voter Education for Community Participation and HR I Made Widiastra. Those who from the previous rapid test were declared reactive had already been tested and the result was that one person tested positive for Covid-19.
(Ed. Note: Election officials, party election monitors, and poll workers are being rapid tested on a massive scale across all of Bali’s Regencies in preparation for the regional elections that will be held next month. While Jembrana has so far referred the people who have returned reactive results for swab testing, not all Regencies are doing so. As of yesterday, Tabanan’s government had not yet decided whether it would swab test all 248 people who were reactive in its first wave of testing.)
"Crowds Flock to Bali Beaches Over the Weekend as Indonesia Records Highest Single-day Spike" from Coconuts: A number of videos reportedly taken just yesterday are making their rounds on social media, showing great numbers of people on beaches in Sanur and Seminyak. It appears that some people did wear masks, though it’s hard not to notice those who didn’t bother, or simply didn’t use them properly. Social distancing, on the other hand, was barely observed... Another video showed a group of people waiting to bathe at Pura Tirta Empul in Gianyar regency. A 20-persons limit at the holy springs was observed, but enforcement of rules appeared less strict outside of this spot, as there were no social distancing at the queue and only very few people were seen wearing masks.
"Bali Hotels Association Says Australian Media’s Damning Report About Bali is ‘Far from the Truth’" from Coconuts: A Current Affair (ACA), a program from Australia’s Channel 9, published a report on the COVID-19 situation in Bali on Nov. 10 on its social media accounts, questioning whether Bali can survive without tourists. The five-minute clip showed footage of closed shops and empty streets in Kuta, as well as scenes from an empty and trashed hotel in Legian... Bali Hotels Association (BHA), whose members include general managers of over 100 four-star and five-star hotels and resorts in Bali, issued a statement today in response to ACA’s report, highlighting how the news piece implied “that all hotels are like this in Bali and that the island is worn and torn. “[It is] far from the truth. This type of misleading news has the potential to create a negative image towards the destination,” the statement said.
"Bali Provincial Government Sets Location for Development of the Bali Cultural Center Covering An Area of 334.62 Hectares" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): The cultural infrastructure that will be built on the former C-excavated land in Gunaksa Village , Dawan District, Klungkung Regency will cover an area of ??334.62 hectares. Koster explained, the concept of building the Bali Cultural Center includes education, conservation, recreation, and sustainable environmentally friendly development and IT-based integrated development.
"Denpasar, Bali to Create 25-km Bike Path" from Bali Discovery: The Municipality of Denpasar, Bali, plans to open a 25-kilometer long bike path to encourage more environmentally forms of transportation. I Ketut Sriawan, the head of Denpasar’s Transportation Department, revealed the bike path plans saying the routes would be integrated with public transport, such as the Trans Metro Dewata Bus service... The first phase of a 25-kilometer bicycle path network will be constructed in 2021, starting from the Dharma Negara Alaya Cultural Center near Lumintang Park to Jalan Ahmad Yani, Jalan Maruti, Jalan Sutomo and continuing to Jalan Gajah Mada. Plans also call for establishing a bus stop for the Metro Dewarta System to connect with bicycle users. The first phase of creating the bike path system will begin in November 2020.
The View from Outside
"Bali Punk Rock Star Facing Jail for An Instagram Post" [Video] from ABC News: A rock star in Bali could face three years in jail for posting comments on Instagram about Indonesian doctors on the coronavirus frontline, as Anne Barker reports.
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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