Day: July 6, 2021

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan pointed to the government having calculated the worst-case scenario regarding COVID-19 cases.

“We have calculated the worst-case scenario, as to how the oxygen supply, medicine, and hospitals will be determined if the case count reaches over 40,000 per day. We have calculated everything,” Minister Pandjaitan stated during a virtual press conference streamed on the Presidential Secretariat YouTube channel in Jakarta, Tuesday.

The minister, concurrently the coordinator for implementation of emergency mobility restrictions (PPKM), remarked that the Ministry of Health had prepared emergency intensive care units (ICUs) at the Pondok Gede Hajj Dormitory.

“The president has visited the venue. We are ready, and it can accommodate more than 800 patients. The military has also established emergency hospitals,” he noted. Pandjaitan further stressed that Indonesia was leaving no stone unturned in handling the pandemic while urging to dispel any doubts regarding Indonesia’s capabilities in handling the pandemic.

“Do not underestimate Indonesia’s capabilities. Up until today, yes (we can). However, when cases reach over 40 to 50 thousand, we will implement a scenario on who we will ask assistance for, and we have started on this approach,” he emphasized.

Speaking in connection with oxygen supplies, the minister revealed that the team had also mapped out a worst-case scenario of 60-70 thousand COVID-19 cases per day.

“However, we hope it would not come to this stage, as colleagues from the police force and the military have enforced the restrictions well,” he added.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has emphasized the importance of national collaboration for procuring 420 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines within the next six months to bring the pandemic under control.

“I see that cooperation is very important; there must be national mutual cooperation, national collaboration to acquire 420 million doses of vaccines in the next six months,” the minister said in a statement released here on Tuesday.

Sadikin made the remarks while reviewing a vaccination program organized by the alumni of Kanisius high school, Menteng 64 at the Jakarta Convention Center. At least five thousand vaccines were administered on the occasion.

The Indonesian government is targeting to vaccinate 210 million Indonesian citizens, so the nation needs to procure 420 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, the minister said.

Chairperson of the Kanisius Menteng 64 alumni body, Irlan Suud, said the first stage of vaccinations from July 5 to July 18, 2021 will cover Indonesian citizens, especially residents of Jakarta or those working in Jakarta.

Under the second stage of vaccinations from August 2 to August 15, 2021, the alumni plan to administer a total of 70 thousand vaccine shots , or five thousand jabs per day, he added. Indonesia has been struggling to control the second COVID-19 wave triggered by the new Delta variant that has overwhelmed the country’s healthcare facilities over the last several weeks.

Daily infections have continued to spike, with the number of new cases reaching another record of 29,745 on Monday (July 5, 2021), taking the total tally to 2,313,829.

According to the COVID-19 Response Task Force, with 14,416 people recovering from COVID-19 on Monday, the total recoveries reached 1,942,690.

Meanwhile, at least 558 people succumbed to the infection, bringing the death toll to 61,140.

The number of active cases, or patients receiving treatment and conducting self-isolation, climbed to 309,999, while the number of suspected cases stood at 79,808.

Indonesia reported its first coronavirus infections in March last year.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia and Russia are in the process of finalizing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the joint production of COVID-19 vaccines, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has said.

The MoU will lay the basis for medium- and long-term cooperation in the field of health and short-term cooperation in the joint production of vaccines, therapeutic drugs, and diagnostic equipment, Marsudi disclosed at an online press conference following a meeting with her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The chief of the Indonesian Food and Drug Control Agency (BPOM) has visited Russia to get first-hand information on the facilities used for the production of the Sputnik V vaccine, she said.

The two countries have cooperated in dealing with COVID-19 since the start of the health crisis, with Russia delivering drugs and medical equipment to Indonesia, she added.

“President Joko Widodo and President Vladimir Putin held phone talks in March, 2020 (to discuss) cooperation in handling the pandemic,” Marsudi said.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov expressed his country’s readiness to strengthen cooperation with Indonesia not only in supplying vaccines, but also in relocating a Russian plant to produce vaccines in Indonesia

“Basically, both Russia and Indonesia believe that the entire international community should have access to vaccines,” he remarked.

He also welcomed the initiative to promote scientific cooperation between the two nations in other areas, including the fight against the coronavirus.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – A total of seven provinces in Indonesia are categorized as prone to spikes in COVID-19 cases triggered by the transmission of the Delta variant from India, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated.

“We have seen that there are five provinces on the island of Sumatra and two provinces in Kalimantan that we must be extra careful with, so that we can prepare well,” Minister Sadikin noted during a virtual press conference monitored from Jakarta, Tuesday.

These provinces include West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Riau, Riau Islands, West Sumatra, South Sumatra, and Lampung.

Sadikin noted that the government had striven to take precautionary measures against a spike in cases in several potentially vulnerable areas, considering that the Delta variant has a swift transmission rate.

“We have seen there will be a fairly high increase and spike in other provinces that will allow in the future. We anticipate it,” he remarked. Meanwhile, based on the daily report from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the daily number of cases in West Sumatra Province on Monday (July 5) had reached 101, while as many as 104 others were declared cured. However, the number of deaths in that area tends to be higher than in other areas, reaching 25 patients.

During the same period, daily cases in East Kalimantan were reported to have reached 428, while 223 others were declared cured and 18 patients had died.

The daily confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Riau had reached 424, while as many as 272 others were declared cured and 11 patients had died.

Meanwhile, in Riau Islands, 408 daily cases were reported, 535 were declared cured, and 12 patients had died.

West Sumatra reported that there were 81 daily positive confirmed cases, 126 patients were declared cured, and 11 other patients died. Daily cases in South Sumatra reached 172 cases, while 135 others recovered, and nine patients died.

The BNPB also reported daily cases in Lampung having reached 306, while 52 patients recovered, and four patients were declared dead.

The Indonesian government is set to introduce telemedicine services on Tuesday to tackle difficulties encountered by the public in obtaining COVID-19 medicines, Maritime Affairs and Investment Coordinating Minister’s spokesman, Jodi Mahardi, earlier stated.

“The government will roll out telemedicine services in Jakarta as of Tuesday. The public can undergo COVID-19 swab tests at laboratories in cooperation with the Health Ministry. If they test positive, then the government will deliver medicines to them for free,” Mahardi noted in a written statement released on Tuesday.

Telemedicine, also referred to as telehealth or e-medicine, is the remote delivery of healthcare services, including exams and consultations, over telecommunications infrastructure.

Telemedicine is part of the government’s endeavors to address the inadequacy of COVID-19 drugs, as the country’s COVID-19 caseload has augmented drastically in recent weeks.

Source: Antara News

Sorong, W Papua (ANTARA) – The Indonesian Navy’s Third Fleet Command (Koarmada III) joined the government’s mass COVID-19 vaccination drive by inoculating one thousand residents of Sorong City, West Papua Province on Tuesday.

Accompanied by several top brass of the Indonesian navy and army, Koarmada III Commander, Rear Admiral Irvansyah, reviewed the vaccination drive for residents aged 18 and above.

Koarmada III initiated the drive for administering the first vaccine dose to Sorong residents following the Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff’s order to help the nation achieve the target of one million vaccinations per day, Irvansyah said.

Similar mass vaccinations were simultaneously organized in coastal areas across the archipelago on Tuesday, he added.

The targeted residents in Sorong City participated enthusiastically in the program, he said.

“Those on the islands also showed their willingness to get vaccinated,” he added.

The organizing committee had set a target of administering the first vaccine dose to one thousand people on Tuesday, he informed.

“If they all cannot have been served today, the vaccination drive will be continued tomorrow,” Irvansyah said.

In the future, Koarmada III will collaborate with other agencies to serve residents who are keen to get vaccinated, he added.

The COVID-19 pandemic initially hit the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019 and subsequently spread across the globe, including to nations in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Indonesian government announced the nation’s first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.

Since then, the central and regional governments have striven incessantly to flatten the nation’s coronavirus curve by applying healthcare protocols. Emergency public activity restrictions have also been imposed on the islands of Java and Bali from July 3 – July 20, 2021.

As part of efforts to win the fight against COVID-19, the Indonesian government has been conducting a nationwide vaccination program to contain infections since January 13, 2021.

Indonesia recently received 10 million doses of bulk vaccines from China’s Sinovac.

As of June 20, 2021, the nation has received 104,728,400 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, comprising 94.5 million Sinovac vaccines, 8.228 million AstraZeneca vaccines, and two million Sinopharm vaccines.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Health Ministry has received 500 tons of oxygen from the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), a nickel processing industrial estate in Morowali, Central Sulawesi.

“On this occasion, I would like to thank all of you for providing 21 ISO tank containers of oxygen, each with a capacity of some 20 tons. This means a lot to us,” Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said in a statement here on Tuesday.

The aid would meet half of the daily oxygen demand in the country, which has reached nearly 800 tons, he informed.

The ISO tanks, with a capacity 25.8 tons of oxygen each, were shipped from Morowali, Central Sulawesi on July 1, 2021, and arrived at Jakarta on Tuesday. They will be distributed to hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, the minister said.

According to PT IMIP CEO Alexander Barus, the aid demonstrates the company’s concern and solidarity in the fight against COVID-19.

“We welcome the government’s call to industries to meet the oxygen demand for COVID patients,” Barus remarked.

With the country battling a major spike in coronavirus infections, the government has asked industries to convert all supplies of oxygen to fulfill medical requirements.

Amid the alarming rise in infections, the availability of medical oxygen matters and must be addressed immediately, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut B. Pandjaitan, has emphasized.

Data from the Health Ministry and the Industry Ministry has pointed to a fivefold increase in the demand for medical oxygen amid the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases, Pandjaitan noted in a press statement released here on Monday.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia has ordered 10 thousand oxygen concentrators from Singapore to meet surging domestic demand amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said.

“We ordered 10 thousand (units) and some of them have arrived on a Hercules jet from Singapore, and we will also have shipments from other places should we experience a shortage,” he said at an online press conference, which was streamed from Jakarta via the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel on Tuesday.

Pandjaitan, who is also coordinator for the implementation of emergency mobility restrictions (PPKM) in Java and Bali, explained that oxygen concentrators will be distributed to COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms. Oxygen concentrators can extract oxygen from the air and process it so that it can be inhaled by patients.

The government is continuing to mobilize oxygen supply for medical needs, the minister said.

At the moment, 100 percent of oxygen supplies for industries are being diverted for COVID-19 handling, he added.

“This is to help those in isolation and those who are being intensively treated,” he remarked.

The government has redirected oxygen supplies from Morowali in Central Sulawesi, Cilegon in Banten, and Batam in Riau Islands, Pandjaitan informed.

The minister had previously coordinated with the Ministry of Industry to map out oxygen needs of all regions.

The Industry Ministry has said that oxygen producers are now “100-percent obligated” to redirect oxygen they produce for medical purposes. With such a policy in place, of the 1,700 tonnes of oxygen produced every day in the country, 1,400 tonnes is being distributed on the island of Java, it added.

Smaller oxygen industries have also been directed to produce pharmaceutical oxygen, the ministry said.

Source: Antara News