Wednesday, January 13
As island sets another record for cases & on country's deadliest day yet, Health Minister admits govt mishandled Covid + Amid surge, govt orders hospitals to use 40% of beds for virus victims + more!
Good morning! Welcome to The Bali Beat for Wednesday, January 13. 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: For the second day in a row, Bali has smashed its record for new cases discovered in a day with 350, up 38% from Monday (253), which had been a jump of 50% from Sunday (169). All regions have seen spikes, but Denpasar has stood out as having the highest numbers, setting new records on successive days: 106 on Monday & 133 yesterday. Officials in the worst-hit areas are pleading with people to do all that they can to stop the spread. In Badung, the Covid-19 Task Force has asked people to limit their travel even though the current “semi-lockdown” measures do not prohibit movement; while in Denpasar, Dewa Gede Rai, spokesperson for the city’s Covid-19 Task Force, implored people to not travel to areas outside of the city and for those who have already left the city to not return.
Click here to see the national numbers infographic and a Regency-by-Regency breakdown of yesterday’s local numbers.
The Big News
"Indonesia Reports All-Time High in Coronavirus Deaths as Daily Cases Top 10,000" from The Jakarta Globe: The coronavirus daily death toll reached a new high in Indonesia on Tuesday with 302 deaths, 17% higher than the previous record, to take the country’s total number of fatalities to 24,645, government figures show. It’s for the first time since the outbreak that the number of Covid-19 deaths has topped 300 in a single day. The previous record was 258 deaths reported on Christmas Day. There have been 2,507 Covid-19 deaths in the first 12 days of the year, or an average of 209. At this point last month, there were 1,708 deaths. An additional 10,047 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 846,765. It’s only for the third time since the outbreak began that the daily count has exceeded the 10,000 mark, all occurring in the last five days.
Context: Based on forecasts from health officials in December, we are (hopefully) near the crest of a wave of new infections that have been spurred by people traveling and gathering during the end-of-year holidays.
"Finally, Minister of Health, Budi, Admits That Covid-19 in Indonesia Is Mishandled, Cases Soar" from Suara Bali (Indonesian): Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin admitted that COVID-19 in Indonesia was mismanaged. So that the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase. Minister of Health Budi said that the mismanagement of COVID-19 was likened to a leaky roof which was handled in the wrong way. "Now we are busy mopping the floor because there is a lot of water every time it rains, but we forget to patch the roof. So whatever is done as long as the roof has not been patched, every time it rains we keep mopping, it gets bigger and bigger," Budi said. Budi said the trend of the surge in corona cases in Indonesia was always caused by the mobility of the people during the long holidays in August, October and the end of the year.
"Black Box of Sriwijaya Air Plane Recovered Four Days after Crash" from The Jakarta Globe: The black box containing flight data recorder (FDR) of a Sriwijaya Air plane which crashed four days ago was recovered on Tuesday by elite members of the Indonesian Navy. Indonesian authorities are still working to locate a second black box that contains the cockpit voice recorder of the Boeing 737-500 plane, which carried 62 people during the ill-fated flight en route from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten to the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak.
Context: The crash of Flight SJ-182 and its aftermath has been a fast-moving event. For a summary of where the investigation stands so far, click here.
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Other Headlines
"Indonesian Gov’t Demands 40% of Hospital Beds for Covid-19 Patients" from The Jakarta Globe: The Indonesian government has called on hospitals to increase their bed allocation for coronavirus patients amid a dramatic surge in the number of confirmed cases following the holiday season. Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Monday hospitals need to spare up to 40% of their beds for Covid-19 patients until at least the end of January. He pointed to the rapidly growing number of active cases, which stood at a record 123,636 on Monday. It is estimated that 30% of active cases require hospitalization.
"Indonesian Gov’t Restores Airplane Flight Occupancy Rate to Full Despite New Restrictions" from Coconuts: The decision was laid out in a circular issued by the Transportation Ministry on domestic passengers using air transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic, which rescinded a rule limiting occupancy at 70% as laid out in a preceding circular. Novie Riyanto, who heads the ministry’s Directorate General of Air Transport, said that all passengers are required to present negative results from either an antigen rapid test or a PCR swab test.
"Vaccination for Covid-19 in Jembrana Has Been Postponed" from Antara (Indonesian): The schedule for the COVID-19 vaccination in Jembrana Regency, Bali was postponed from January 14 to February 2. "Vaccination in Jembrana will enter the second phase, which is in February. Whenever vaccination is carried out, we are ready," said the Head of Disease Prevention and Control Division of the Jembrana Health Service, who is also the spokesman for the Jembrana COVID-19 Task Force, dr I Gusti Putu Arisantha. Although it was postponed until February, he said, the group that received the first vaccine in Jembrana had not changed, namely medical personnel, regional leaders who are members of Forkominda and religious leaders.
"Foreigners Defy Authorities in Bali, Refuse to Leave Restaurant Despite Curfew" from Coconuts: A video of the quarrel has widely circulated on Instagram, showing a number of officers in what appears to be an attempt at explaining existing regulations to at least two foreign nationals, one of whom can be seen without a mask in the video. “There were foreign tourists who insisted that they were still [dining]. We said it was 9pm and [restaurant] operations must be closed. There’s no way around it; if they want to continue to eat they have to wrap it up and take it away,” I Gusti Agung Ketut Suryanegara, who heads the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) in Badung regency said, adding that the argument lasted for about half an hour.
"PPKM Day Two Takes Place in Several Tourist Attractions" from Bali Puspa News (Indonesian): The second day of the implementation of Yustisi enforcement in connection with the Enforcement of Restrictions on Community Activities (PPKM) was tight in a number of tourist objects in the South Denpasar area. PPKM was carried out with the aim of minimizing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak which has increased drastically. The number of personnel deployed in implementing this PPKM is 49 personnel. Consisting of the police, Denpasar City Transportation Agency, Syahbandar, and Sanur traditional pecalang. Iptu Ketut Sukadi, Head of Public Relations of the Denpasar Police, explained that the implementation of PPKM will continue until January 24th. All locations that are considered prone to the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak will be investigated.
Context: Provincial police have vowed to step up their patrols to enforce mask-wearing among the populace and to check that businesses are following health protocols. Yesterday, in addition to this story out of Sanur, reports came in of enforcement actions - and, in some cases, fines being levied - in every district, including Peguyangan Kangin Village in Denpasar, Jembrana, and Klungkung.
"Theft in Gianyar Is Rampant, Pratima Pura Is More Mysterious Than a Thief" from Radar Bali (Indonesian): Pratima theft cases continue to spread. This time, it happened at Bendesa Manik Mas Batan Tingkih Temple in Banjar Kesian, Lebih Village, Gianyar District. Pratima at the temple was found missing on Monday (11/1). Pangempon Pura suffered material losses of up to IDR 75 million. The thief allegedly broke the door where Pratima was kept. The perpetrator is expected to carry out the action at night. Meanwhile, the object that was lost and managed to be brought by the perpetrator was a pair of copper plates. Also 10 gold flowers.
"Finance Ministry Approves Tunnel Project In South Bali" from The Bali Sun: A construction project proposed by Badung Regency has been approved by the Indonesian Finance Ministry. The project includes the development of an outer ring road and limestone tunnel in South Bali. The project aims to create better connectivity between tourist sites in South Bali. “The land acquisition will begin in 2022, so we expect to see the result in 2024," said Ida Bagus Surya Suamba, head of the Badung Public Works Agency.
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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