Tuesday, September 29
National govt adds island to "Priority List" for handing Covid, asks Bali govt to get tougher on health protocols + Buleleng rushing to reopen schools + Jembrana can't afford swab test machine + more!
Good morning! Welcome to The Bali Beat for Tuesday, September 29. If you’re not a subscriber, sign up here to get this update delivered directly to your Inbox every Monday-Saturday 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: Click here to see the national numbers infographic and a Regency-by-Regency breakdown of yesterday’s local numbers + trendlines in our evening update. 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
"Despite Encouragement from National Police, Bali Provincial Government Has Not Issued A Health Protocol Regulation through A Perda" from The Bali Tribune (Indonesian): The National Police of the Republic of Indonesia have asked regions that do not yet have regional regulations (Perda) regarding sanctions for violators of health protocols to immediately complete them. Currently, the Bali Provincial Government regulates these rules via a Governor Regulation (Pergub), and not under Presidential Instruction Number 6 of 2020, or Instruction Number 4 from the Minister of Home Affairs... "Materially, we are doing enough with gubernatorial administrative sanctions," said Head of the Bali Provincial Secretariat Law Bureau (Setda), Ida Bagus Gede Sudarsana.
(Ed. Note: In addition to this discussion about the national government wanting local governments to use the more wide-ranging powers offered by federal mandates, President Widodo said yesterday that he felt that “mini-lockdowns” instituted at the local level would be more effective in containing the virus’ spread than wider reginal lockdowns. You can read more about that here.)
"Now An Orange Zone, Schools in Buleleng Preparing to Hold Face-to-Face Meetings" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): The Buleleng Youth and Sports Education Agency (Disdikpora) has instructed schools to prepare to hold face-to-face meetings. In the daily covid zoning report released by the Bali Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Buleleng is now in the orange zone along with six other districts / cities in Bali. Head of Buleleng Disdikpora I Made Astika said the preparations had been made from the start. In order to support the face-to-face learning process at school... “It could be that the parents don't allow their children to go to school. If you don't want to attend face-to-face meetings, you can still attend the meeting online or take part in distance learning. In essence, all students must receive good and quality educational services," said Astika.
"Bali on Indonesia’s Priority List for COVID-19 Handling: National Task Force" from Coconuts: Bali is now included in Indonesia’s priority list for COVID-19 handling, head of the national task force Doni Monardo said today, as the worrying spike in coronavirus infections this month has resulted in a high hospital bed occupancy rate on the island. According to official data, Bali province currently has the third-highest bed occupancy rate in the country with 61.6%, which has surpassed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation of less than 60%.
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Other Headlines
"Jembrana Not Planning to Buy RT-PCR Tool for Swab Test" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Jembrana, the westernmost district of Bali, does not have a plan to procure a a reverse transcription chain reaction (RT-PCR) tool, which is needed to diagnose the SARS-COV-2 virus. This was emphasized by the Director of the State Hospital, I Gusti Bagus Ketut Oka Parwata, on Monday. According to Parwata, to set up a PCR laboratory requires a large budget, while the budget at the State Hospital is limited. "We planed to buy a PCR machine, but after reviewing it with the task force, the effectiveness of this tool will only be realized after the disaster is over, so it can't be used," he said.
"Jokowi Demands Standardized COVID-19 Treatment As Cases Surge" from The Jakarta Post: President Joko Widodo has said that every hospital will be required to treat COVID-19 patients in accordance with the Health Ministry’s official standard operating procedures to ensure an optimal recovery rate. He said that uniform treatment of COVID-19 patients would be mandatory in intensive care units, isolation wards and quarantine facilities. “[This standardization] is of the utmost importance, so we expect that the number of fatalities will continue to decline and that the number of recoveries will continue to improve,” Jokowi said.
"Mask Inspection in Tabanan, Dozens of Residents Sentenced to Push Ups" from The IDN Times (Indonesian): An inspection of COVID-19 health protocols involving a joint team of the Civil Service Police Unit (Satpol PP), the Indonesian National Army (TNI), and the Indonesian National Police (Polri) was held in Peken Belayu Village-District Marga, and Senganan Village-Penebel District, on Monday. As a result, there were 28 people who committed violations. Of the 28 people, eight of them were fined Rp. 100,000 and 20 were sentenced to push-ups.
"BPKP Recommends Swab Test Price of IDR 797,000" from iNews Bali (Indonesian): The Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) is said to have recommended a price for the swab test. These recommendations are for both contractual and independent tests. The recommendation was given in relation to the government's efforts to standardize the price of the swab test to detect someone infected with the corona virus ( Covid-19 ), through polymerase chain reaction (PCR)... Head of the Covid-19 Covid-19 Task Force, Lieutenant General (Lieutenant) TNI Doni Monardo, said that these recommendations will be evaluated by the Ministry of Health. Later, it is hoped that the exact figure decided by the Ministry of Health will not be a burden to residents and entrepreneurs.
"7 More Staff Test Positive, East Denpasar Clinic to Reopen October 1" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): After 6 staff members at Puskesmas I Denpasar tested positive for Covid-19 last Wednesday, the clinic was completely closed. According to the Spokesperson for Denpasar's Covid-19 Task Force, after tracing and swab tests were carried out on 30 of the staff there, 7 more tested positive. "Because there are 7 people who are positive again, so a total of 13 staff are positive," he said... Given that in such circumstances, service has not been optimal, and some staff, even though their swab results were negative, still undergo independent isolation. "Plan for October 1, the new ministry will be reopened. Even though administratively it is already open, the services are totally closed, let alone quite a lot of positive ones, starting from doctors, midwives, nurses, analysts, to CS," explained Dewa Rai.
"COVID Causes Immigration Services to Drop by 70%" from Antara (Indonesian): "On average, from each immigration office, since COVID has decreased because most of them have not yet had flights abroad, so there are not many people who have applied for Indonesian passports and also for foreign services, because most of them have not opened flights to Indonesia, so the number of applicants foreigners have decreased by about 70%," said I Putu Surya Dharma, Head of Sub Division of Public Relations and Reform of the Bali Ministry of Law and Human Rights... He said that during COVID, Denpasar Immigration would still open all services, both passport applications and services for foreigners. However, because of this COVID, services have not been maximized because many countries are still in lockdown so flights are still closed. The types of services opened are in the form of applying for a new passport, changing passports, services for foreigners such as transferring immigration status, granting limited stay permits (ITAS) and other immigration services.
"Severed Human Leg Found at Perancak Beach, Kuta" from The IDN Times (Indonesian): Visitors to Perancak Beach in Tibubeneng Village, North Kuta District were in an uproar after the discovery of a human leg, on Monday. A foreign national (WNA) reported the finding of a leg cut on the beach to a guard at the beach. The witness then went to the location where the leg was found, and immediately reported it to North Kuta Police... Witnesses said that the leg was partially buried the sand, and that many dogs roamed the site. Police officers came to the location to carry out an investigation. Meanwhile, the leg was taken to the Sanglah Denpasar Central General Hospital by ambulance from the Indonesian Red Cross. "The leg pieces were taken to Sanglah Hospital. For further examination," explained Iptu Ketut Oka Bawa, Head of Public Relations of the Badung Police.
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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