Day: June 17, 2021

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas plans to visit Saudi Arabia at the end of August to discuss the implementation of the 2022 Hajj, so that preparations can be made at the earliest.

“We will go there as soon as we get permission from the Saudi Arabian government,” Cholil noted in a statement received in Jakarta, Thursday.

The minister deems this step necessary as a precautionary measure that the Indonesian government can take in the event of Saudi Arabia not opening the pilgrimage again.

This is since the COVID-19 pandemic is still rampant in most nations worldwide and is beyond anyone’s scope of projection as to when it will end.

Saudi Arabia took the decision to not open Hajj pilgrimage in 2020 and 2021 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This decision has become a valuable experience, particularly for the Indonesian government, to take precautionary measures early against varied possibilities that could occur.

“We do not know when this pandemic will end. We have canceled Hajj departures twice due to this pandemic. Hence, for next year, precautionary measures must be adopted earlier on,” he remarked.

The minister gauged that when compared to the global pandemic that has occurred, COVID-19 is an event that has had a major impact on the lives of people globally, including the movement across countries and continents.

“Currently, for instance, it is difficult to enter Saudi Arabia. Indonesian flights are currently not allowed to enter. This will certainly disrupt all activities,” the minister pointed out.

Hence, Minister Cholil is sanguine that all parties would exercise patience and continue to pray, so that the government’s efforts to prepare for the Hajj pilgrimage would run properly.

“We also expect cooperation to be able to edify prospective Indonesian pilgrims,” the minister remarked.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The national COVID-19 task force has said it is considering eliminating long holidays altogether to prevent the spread of coronavirus infections in the community.

“So, we are considering eliminating the long holiday, as it is always followed by an increase in cases,” said the task force’s head of behavior change, Sonny Harry B Harmadi, at an online productive dialogue entitled ‘Don’t be tired, don’t be careless. Obey the Health Protocol’, which ANTARA joined from here on Thursday.

According to Harmadi, the surge in COVID-19 cases currently seen in several regions in Indonesia was more likely caused by high public mobility and activity after the 2021 Eid holiday.

“This long holiday agenda is always followed by a spike in cases. We also realize that the emergence of a new coronavirus variant in Indonesia even existed before the long holiday. This means that the spike in cases occurred due to long holidays,” he noted.

The government tried to anticipate an increase in cases, based on the agenda of four long holidays in 2020, which led to a spike in active cases and death rates, especially the death rate of health workers, he said.

“However, the facts show that there are still quite a lot of people who returned to their hometowns (this year). It turns out that around 1.8 million people were going home before the enactment of the homecoming ban on May 6-17 (2021) and after,” he pointed out.

The government has predicted that any increase in public mobility will be followed by reduced compliance with health protocols, and thus trigger a rise in cases, he said.

Indonesia had earlier succeeded in reducing active cases to 87,662 on May 18, 2021 from more than 176,500 on February 5, 2021, he noted.

“So, actually we have succeeded in reducing (cases) thanks to increasing public compliance with health protocols, accompanied by a decrease in population mobility,” Harmadi said. (INE)

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Structural reform drew major attention, as ministers and economic officials from 21 APEC member economies convened virtually on Wednesday to advance sustainable and resilient recovery from the pandemic by reviving APEC’s structural reform agenda.

The virtual convention was chaired by New Zealand Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs David Clark, according to a release issued by the APEC Secretariat and received here on Thursday.

Ministers and officials stated that the Enhanced APEC Agenda for Structural Reform will facilitate member economies to prioritize their work for the subsequent five years and chart the way toward strong, sustainable, and inclusive economic growth for the region.

In his opening remarks at the meeting, Minister Clark underscored the key role that structural reform plays in boosting recovery in addition to advancing policy development that will improve the institutional and legal environment across APEC.

“This is a critical time to join together, share experience, and collaborate, as we promote and shape our economic recovery from the pandemic,” he emphasized.

“Implementing the right structural reforms will help ensure that our economies, businesses, and all our people can build towards a sustainable and inclusive recovery as well as improve resilience for the future,” Clark affirmed.

The minister drew attention to the fact that structural reform efforts will help economies respond to pressing issues and prepare the region for future economic shocks. “Macroeconomic responses from economies have provided critical buffers during the pandemic for people and businesses, while microeconomic policies will improve markets’ efficiency and productivity,” Clark expounded.

Focusing on APEC’s priority to increase inclusion and sustainability for recovery, the New Zealand minister voiced support for tackling climate change that will only exacerbate the future economic, social, and environmental costs across the region.

“Right now, we have the opportunity to not just replace what we had, but to also create a more robust future by adopting a green recovery,” Clark suggested.

“That is, to be inclusive in the long-term, environmentally sustainable, innovation friendly, and that helps to align and accelerate global investment towards green alternatives,” he stated.

Hence, Clark concluded that collaboration, cooperation, and integration were the keys to economies in laying down the foundations for a stronger, healthier world following the disruption caused by COVID-19.

“The structural reform efforts that we put into place will contribute to APEC’s overarching goal to promote balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative, and secure growth,” he remarked.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) -Indonesian on-demand platform Gojek said it has launched a COVID-19 vaccination drive for driver-partners across 29 cities and districts to ensure the health and safety of partners as well as customers.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, the company said its vaccination drive is the largest among online transportation companies and is part of its commitment to ensuring the highest health, safety, and cleanliness standards.

Though coronavirus cases have continued to grow in Indonesia, there has been an increase in people’s activities outside of their homes, and this has upped the risk of further COVID-19 spread, according to Gojek’s chief transport officer, Raditya Wibowo.

“For that reason, for approximately the last four months, we continue to optimize our vaccination program in order to increase the safety and security of our driver-partners and Gojek customers on the road,” Wibowo said.

The company has also launched a feature within its app that allows passengers to check the vaccination status of their designated driver-partner. The feature is available on the latest version of the app, he informed.

Gojek has continued to collaborate with several parties, including Halodoc, the central and regional governments, as well as other related authorities to speed up the vaccination of all partners in Indonesia, he added.

Meanwhile, director of land transportation at the Ministry of Transportation, Ahmad Yani, has lauded the measures carried out by Gojek and dubbed its vaccination drive, which has covered 29 areas in less than four months, as an “extraordinary achievement”.

“I am optimistic that if all cross-sector players contribute to accelerating the government’s vaccination drive, as Gojek has been doing, we will soon recover from the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

According to the director of the Center for Policy and Public Management at the Bandung Technology Institute’s School of Business and Management, Yudo Anggoro, the vaccination program has become the focus of many parties because it would not only benefit public health, but also give people who need to carry out activities outside the home a greater sense of security.

“Especially in the transportation sector, we found that the triggering factor for people’s sense of security, when required to travel, was the transportation driver’s vaccination status. This is, of course, the result of the collective efforts of the government and the private sector (players), such as Gojek, who continue to expand the vaccination program according to their respective fields and industries,” he said. (INF)

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – More than 11.963 million Indonesians have received their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine as of Thursday afternoon, according to data provided by the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling.

With 147,512 people receiving their second jab in the last 24 hours, the total number of fully vaccinated Indonesians has reached 11,963,330, the task force said.

Meanwhile, the number of Indonesians receiving their first dose of the vaccine has increased by 550,482 to reach 21,999,256.

The recipients of the first vaccine dose account for 54.52 percent of the 40,349,049 recipients targeted under the first and second phases of the national vaccination program.

Meanwhile, the number of fully vaccinated Indonesians accounts for 29.64 percent of the target.

The government is prioritizing healthcare workers, public service officers, and senior citizens in the first and second phases of the national vaccination program.

The inoculation of public service workers, including teachers and senior citizens, is still under way in several parts of the country.

Overall, the government is seeking to vaccinate 181.5 million citizens, or 70 percent of the population, to create herd immunity against the virus.

To speed up vaccinations, the government has been making efforts to expand the capacity of vaccination services.

Source: Antara News