February 10, 2022 – Page 2 – Indonesia News Gazette

February 10, 2022

Australia TGA Approves Medriva™ COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Self-Test Kit as Mass Rapid Testing (MRT) Becomes the Future for Controlling Future Outbreaks

Company Plans to Sell Cost-Effective Kit to Governments, Pharmacies, Airports, Schools and Amazon.com

Medriva COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Kit

SYDNEY, Feb. 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Leading global medical product supplier ProcureNet has won Australian Government authorization to market and sell its highly effective Medriva COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test Kit under ARTG #383819.

Approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has signaled a potential mass rollout of Medriva test kits to pharmacies and local governments, which provides quick and easy detection via a nasal swab.

Getting the green light for Medriva comes at a crucial time for Australians as COVID-19 cases remained high and Australia is set to open borders to vaccinated tourists on Feb. 21.

The Medriva COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Self-Test Kit is one of the most effective on the market — having a 95 percent “sensitivity rate” and a 99 percent “relative specificity” rate. Its overall effectiveness is 97 percent. The results meet World Health Organization’s recommended performance standards.

Founded in 2020 by Gurbaksh Chahal, Medriva had a successful launch through its strong government partner network, including organizations such as WHO, UNICEF, Health Canada, Government of Italy, Hong Kong, Turkey, Sinovac, and over a dozen states in the United States.

“The TGA has rigorously assessed our antigen test kit for safety, quality and effectiveness before being provisionally registered for use in Australia,” commented Chahal, ProcureNet’s chief executive.

“The approval gives us the green light to supply Medriva COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test Kit to help Australians in their early detection of the virus. As countries begin to live with COVID-19, mass rapid testing (MRT) becomes the main tool to control any future outbreaks. Eliminating the virus completely, through stringent lockdown and quarantine measures, and treating it as endemic are often discussed as mutually exclusive strategies. Frequent and widespread adoption of at-home antigen rapid testing could offer the best of both worlds. And, we look forward to helping Australians by bringing the most cost-effective diagnostic solutions to them. ”

Critics of RATs say that PCR is much more sensitive, but this can actually be a liability when it detects a residual amount of RNA during a waning, non-infectious case. Data from a study by the UK COVID-19 Lateral Flow Oversight Team shows that RAT sensitivity for contagious cases, even when asymptomatic, is typically around 97 percent. This means that, with rapid testing, positive individuals can reliably know which few days they need to stay at home, while everyone else testing negative can confidently get on with their lives.

“Whatever we do now is preparation for the next variant wave or future pandemics. Self-testing is already as easy as other hygiene routines, like brushing teeth. We know it can be made as cheap as a daily commute. When that happens, we can crush the pandemic with a new kind of ‘MRT’: mass rapid testing,” said Chahal.

The Company’s global rise is a direct result of its strong social impact values that have aided hundreds of millions of citizens across several continents to help fight COVID-19 through its vaccination and diagnostic products. The Company will now extend its production capacity of 60 million rapid antigen test kits per month to the Australian market. Medriva also plans to make its cost-effective test kits available on Amazon.

Learn more about Medriva’s Self Test Kit: https://medriva.com/.

About ProcureNet

ProcureNet is a leading global leader of pharmaceutical materials and vaccines consumables. Medriva is the Company’s B2B brand for its own consumable products.

Founded by serial entrepreneur Gurbaksh Chahal, the Company connects government, international world organizations and large businesses to a vast network of pre-approved on-demand manufacturers that produce the world’s most sought-after commodities at rapid speed and tremendous scale. ProcureNet’s rise came due to strong social impact values as the company provided life-saving medical equipment and materials to aid in the treatment of COVID-19 during the most critical times of the pandemic.

Press Contact:
Euan Humphreys
euan.humphreys@vendorcloud.com

Medriva COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Self-Test Kit

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Medriva COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Kit

February 10, 2022

Receivables SaaS platform Chaser launches SMS invoice chasing to help users reduce late payments

Chaser logo

LONDON, Feb. 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Chaser, the global accounts receivables SaaS platform and credit control service provider, today released SMS invoice chasing functionality to allow users to send invoice payment reminders to their customers that are otherwise hard to reach by email.

On average, emails receive a 25% open rate, whilst SMS messages have an average open rate of 98% (Tyntec). With the average business owed $300,000 in late payments (QuickBooks), businesses need to do what they can to ensure that their payment reminders get noticed and customers can pay their invoices easily.

SMS chasing allows users to send invoice payment reminder messages to their customers instantly from one central cloud system. SMS messages can be sent using customisable templates that comprise editable and personalised fields like business name, due date, invoice amount, making the messages look like they were hand-typed. This allows users to edit with their usual style of communication with customers, giving each automated message a human touch.

These SMS payment reminders can be used alongside email reminders in automatic chasing schedules, which send at the days and times that users choose. Using a combination of both email and SMS chasing helps users increase their chances of reaching customers faster and getting paid faster. It is designed so that recipients can pay their invoice instantly via their SMS message, which links them directly to a payment portal gateway. View this fact sheet to see all features and capabilities of SMS payment chasing.

After recently reaching the milestone of helping users chase and recover 10 billion USD in late payments, this is the next step for Chaser in helping businesses worldwide to reduce late payments and improve their cash flow.

“The release of SMS chasing is another milestone in Chaser’s mission to help businesses get paid for their work. This will let users cut through the noise and reach customers on the go by sending personalised payment reminders directly to their phone. It lets businesses reach their customers more efficiently, and reduces payment friction with instant payment links for SMS recipients.” – Sonia Dorais, CEO of Chaser.

MEDIA CONTACT:

marketing@chaserhq.com

ABOUT CHASER

Chaser Technologies Limited helps businesses get paid sooner with its award-winning, all-in-one accounts receivables automation platform, debt collections agency and outsourced credit control services.

Users can credit check, monitor debtors, chase late invoices, collect payments, recover debt and reconcile accounts, all in the same unique platform.

By sending automatic and deeply personalised payment reminders, the software and service provider effectively gets invoices paid on time without losing the human touch. To date, Chaser has helped users chase over USD 10 billion in overdue invoices.

Chaser was named the Accounting Excellence ‘Cloud App of the Year’ three years in a row (2017, 2018, and 2019), Xero’s ‘App Partner of the Year’ (2016), and App Partner of the Month (August 2019).

chaserhq.com
twitter.com/chaser_hq

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Image 1: Chaser logo

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Chaser logo

February 10, 2022

Japan’s Suzuki not to attend G-20 finance chief talks next week

Published by
Kyodo News

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Thursday he is considering skipping a meeting of finance chiefs from the Group of 20 major economies to be held in Indonesia next week. “Taking account of the fact that parliament is now in session as well as the fact that there is little time difference with the venue, it will be hard to participate even virtually” in the two-day talks of G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors through Feb. 18 in Jakarta, Suzuki told a press conference. Masato Kanda, vice finance minister for international affairs, will be dispatched to the Indonesian c… Continue reading “Japan’s Suzuki not to attend G-20 finance chief talks next week”

February 10, 2022

MotoGP will showcase Indonesia’s potential: minister

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The MotoGP Pertamina Grand Prix will serve as an effective promotional tool for showcasing Indonesia’s potential to the global community, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno has said.

Hence, all parties must strengthen collaboration in preparing for the racing event, which will take place in less than 45 days, he added.

“The preparation includes the technical aspects, infrastructure, accommodation, transportation, and the implementation of health protocols,” he said in a statement received here on Thursday.

The preparations must be conducted properly since the implementation of the racing event at Mandalika Circuit, Central Lombok district, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province, is highly anticipated as the circuit is hosting the event for the first time, Uno noted.

Thus, MotoGP riders who have arrived in Mandalika to prepare for the pre-season test – which will take place on February 11–13, 2022 — have expressed their enthusiasm on social media for racing on the 4.32-kilometer (km) track, the minister said.

In addition, they have expressed their admiration for the exotic location of the circuit, he added.

“Still, the riders, crew, officials, and community around the circuit must conduct strict and disciplined health protocols. Hence, coordination, collaboration, and evaluation of the event must continue to be strengthened,” Uno said.

The minister informed he will directly review preparations for the pre-season test on February 10–11, 2022.

The COVID-19 Task Force has issued Circular Letter Number 5/2022 on the Bubble System of Health Protocol for the Implementation of 2022 MotoGP in Mandalika area, he noted.

According to the circular, all parties involved in the event, except for supporting staff, will be allowed to carry out activities only in the determined zones at each facility or infrastructure within the bubble area, which consists of the circuit and lodgings, he said.

The racing event is projected to generate an economic value of more than Rp500 billion and absorb a total of 11 thousand workers, he noted.

“In the long term, more than 50 thousand job opportunities will be created through various events held at Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit,” Uno said.

Source: Antara News

February 10, 2022

BI keeps benchmark rate unchanged at 3.5%

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Bank Indonesia’s (BI) board of governors decided to keep the central bank’s benchmark rate, the BI 7-Day Reverse Repo Rate (BI7DRR), unchanged at 3.5 percent during a meeting on February 9–10, 2022.

The central bank also maintained the deposit facility rate at 2.75 percent and the lending facility rate at 4.25 percent.

“This decision is relevant to the need to maintain the stability of the exchange rate, keep inflation under control, and boost economic growth in the midst of mounting external pressures,” BI Governor Perry Warjiyo said at a press conference held to announce the outcome of the meeting of the board of governors here on Thursday.

BI will also continue to optimize the policy mix to maintain stability and support economic recovery by taking various steps, including strengthening the policy on the rupiah’s exchange rate, he informed.

This way the stability of the rupiah’s exchange rate can be maintained in accordance with the market mechanism and economic fundamentals, he added.

The policy mix also includes firmly normalizing the liquidity policy through the rupiah reserve requirement (GWM) and providing incentives to banks extending credit/financing to priority sectors and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and/or achieving the macro-prudential inclusive financing ratio (RPIM) target, Warjiyo said.

The next step is strengthening the policy for a transparent basic lending rate (SBDK) by deepening the comparison of the prime lending rate spread with other countries in the region and raising the QRIS transaction limit to Rp10 million from Rp5 million per transaction starting March 1, 2022, to boost public consumption, he informed.

“We will also strengthen the use of local currency settlement (LCS) as a means of settling bilateral trade transactions and investment with main partner countries, especially in Asia,” he added.

Source: Antara News

February 10, 2022

Indonesia Reports 46,843 New COVID-19 Cases, 65 More Deaths

JAKARTA– Indonesia yesterday confirmed 46,843 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total tally to 4,626,936, said its Ministry of Health.

The ministry’s senior official, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said yesterday that, the total number of confirmed cases with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the archipelago, has risen to 4,768, with most of them being locally transmitted cases.

According to the ministry, the death toll from COVID-19 rose by 65 to 144,784, while the total number of recoveries rose to 4,216,328, with 14,016 newly recorded, during the past 24 hours.

The Indonesian government is accelerating national vaccination programmes to curb the spread of the virus. More than 187.29 million people in the country have received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, while over 132.66 million have taken their second doses, according to the ministry.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

February 10, 2022

Gov’t still needs to clear Rp23-trillion COVID treatment bill

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Indonesian government still needs to pay Rp23 trillion for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in 2021, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has informed.

“We still have a Rp23-trillion bill to be paid in 2022,” she said at the Microfinance Outlook event organized by state-owned PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) here on Thursday.

The bill resulted from a surge in cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19, wherein many people were infected and required hospitalization, she explained.

The surge in cases led to the health sector dominating state spending due to the cost of treating COVID-19 patients, which reached around Rp94 trillion, the minister noted.

This shows that the cost of handling COVID-19 is very high as the figure does not include the spending on other sectors, such as social protection, she highlighted.

“Furthermore, the spending was only for patient treatment. It did not include the cost of the national vaccination program,” she said.

Meanwhile, the realization of state spending in 2021 reached Rp2,786.8 trillion, or 101.3 percent of the 2021 State Budget (APBN) target of Rp2,750 trillion, the minister informed.

However, Indrawati assured that the government will improve the APBN balance. She noted that the APBN deficit in 2021 had declined significantly.

In 2021, the deficit was Rp783.7 trillion, or 4.65 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), she said. It was lower than the deficit limit of Rp1.006 trillion, or 5.7 percent of the GDP, she added.

It was also smaller than the deficit in 2020, which reached Rp947 trillion or 6.14 percent of the GDP, she pointed out.

The decline in the deficit was due to the achievement of state revenues, which reached Rp2,003 trillion, or 114.9 percent of the APBN target as of December 31, 2021, Indrawati said.

“It showed that although the spending of the state budget was extremely high, we managed to maintain it well,” the minister added.

Source: Antara News

February 10, 2022

Hope to start indigenous vaccine production in Aug: Biotis, Unair

Jakarta (ANTARA) – University of Airlangga and PT Biotis Pharmaceuticals Indonesia are hoping to start production of Indonesia’s first indigenous vaccine, named Mera Putih (Red-and-White) after the country’s national flag, in August 2022.

“Starting August 2022, we will start releasing products (vaccines) massively,” president director of PT Biotis Pharmaceuticals, FX Sudirman, said at the MUI Jakarta Office on Thursday.

In the pre-clinical trials, the Red-and-White vaccine has shown high efficacy and the first phase of clinical trials are currently underway to check its safety and efficacy, he said.

Ninety volunteers are participating in the first phase of the clinical trials, he informed. In the second phase, the vaccine will be tested on about 400 participants for immunogenicity, and the third phase clinical trial for testing the efficacy of the vaccine will involve around three thousand participants, he added.

In the third stage, it will also be known whether the vaccine can be used as a booster vaccine or a primary vaccine, Sudirman said.

“Regarding the use, the government has allocated the Red-and-White vaccine for several targets and it can be used as a primary vaccine and booster vaccine, for adults, adolescents, and children,” he added.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the indigenous vaccine is planned to be donated to several countries on the African continent.

“Because the penetration of vaccine distribution in Africa is rather low. Many vaccine donations are Moderna and Pfizer, which require logistics with a fairly high temperature of minus 25 to minus 28 degrees Celsius,” he added.

President Joko Widodo has agreed to donate the Red-and-White vaccine to other countries, according to the minister.

“So, it will not only be used locally in Indonesia, but also internationally,” he said.

The country will pursue the registration of the vaccine with the World Health Organization (WHO) for clinical trials and boosters, he informed. Furthermore, registration is also required to donate doses to Africa, he said.

“It must be ensured that this class of vaccine is at the international level, and there must be as many as possible publications on international research concerning the vaccine, so it can be seen by the world’s researchers,” he added.

Source: Antara News