May 10, 2022 – Page 4 – Indonesia News Gazette

May 10, 2022

Vice President expresses optimism for Bali tourism recovery

Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has said he is optimistic that Bali’s tourism sector will recover soon due to the decline in COVID-19 cases nationwide and an increase in booster vaccinations among Bali residents.

Amin delivered the statement while monitoring the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) area on Jerman Beach, Badung, Bali, on Tuesday.

“Today, I visited the beach to monitor MSMEs, and I saw that the community’s economic activities in Bali, especially in Kuta, have started to grow (again),” he said.

Bali’s booster vaccination coverage, which has reached 86 percent, has supported its becoming a safe place to visit, the Vice President noted. He said that he is optimistic Bali’s economy will revive.

“This shows that Bali has actually recovered. Thus, foreign tourists, as well as local tourists, do not need to worry about coming to Bali,” he added.

The Vice President said the promotion of Bali’s tourist destinations needs to be intensified, both inside the country and abroad.

The supervisor of enterprise units on Jerman Beach, Ni Luh Gede Sri Mediastuti, reported to the Vice President that tourism around Jerman Beach has started to recover.

However, she noted that the situation has not fully improved yet. For that reason, she expressed the hope that the government would push Bali’s tourism revival.

“Visitors have started to come. Our activities have been reactivated though not maximal yet; only 20 percent,” Mediastuti said.

Earlier, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) had reported a significant increase in international tourist arrivals in Bali via air transportation.

According to the data, at Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali, the number of international tourist arrivals has jumped by a significant 487,133.33 percent—from just 3 arrivals recorded in March 2021 to 14,617 arrivals in March 2022.

Source: Antara News

May 10, 2022

Focusing on mitigating forest, land fires in Sumatra, Kalimantan: govt

The Environment and Forestry Ministry has said that it is currently focusing on mitigating forest and land fires in the peatlands of Sumatra and Kalimantan islands.

“During the dry season, when it rarely rains, we should take joint (forest and land fire) anticipatory attempts for the regions which are covered by peatland,” director of forest and land fire mitigation at the ministry, Basar Manullang, told ANTARA here on Tuesday.

Currently, the anticipatory efforts are focused on several at-risk areas in Sumatra Island, including Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi, and North Sumatra provinces, he informed.

The efforts are also being carried out in all provinces across Kalimantan Island.

The director noted that currently, there has been a decline in rainfall in some parts of Sumatra Island, while the remaining regions are expected to start experiencing the dry season in May–June 2022.

The decrease in rainfall has increased the potential for forest and land fires.

Hence, Manullang said that mitigation efforts also require the participation of the surrounding community so that the best prevention measures can be determined for forest and land fires.

According to data from the ministry, the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Terra/Aqua satellite has identified 221 hotspots across Indonesia from January 1 to May 9, 2022.

During the same period in 2021, 228 hotspots were detected.

“Thus, so far, there has been a decline in the number of detected hotspots,” the director noted.

He said that the achievement is inseparable from the various forest and land fire mitigation efforts implemented by various stakeholders, including the government and the community.

The efforts include weather modification operations, which were conducted from April 14–28, and water bombing in at-risk areas.

In addition, air patrols were conducted in Riau province. A series of integrated and independent land patrols were also carried out in five villages in the province.

Source: Antara News

May 10, 2022

163 traffic accidents recorded in, around Jakarta during Eid holidays

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police reported 163 traffic accidents in and around the capital city during the Ketupat Jaya Operations, which aimed to secure the Eid al-Fitr exodus from April 28 to May 9, 2022.

“As many as 161 accidents occurred on arterial roads and two accidents on toll roads,” Head of Law enforcement of the Traffic Directorate of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Jamal Alam said in a written statement released on Monday.

Only one accident involved a homecoming traveler and the other 162 accidents did not, he informed.

The 163 traffic accidents claimed 5 lives and left 26 people seriously injured, he said adding, 166 people sustained light injuries.

The accidents also caused more than Rp255 million in material losses to the owners of 186 motor vehicles involved in the accidents, he added.

Details of the traffic accidents occurring during the Ketupat Jaya Operations 2022 are as follows:

1. Jakarta Metropolitan Police, 15

2. Central Jakarta, 17

3. North Jakarta, 16

4. West Jakarta, 8

5. South Jakarta, 16

6. East Jakarta, 41

7. Tangerang city, 17

8. Depok city, 12

9. Bekasi district, 21.

Source: Antara News

May 10, 2022

KAI rejects 707 passengers for flouting health protocols

State railway firm PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) rejected 707 prospective passengers who did not comply with the health protocols during the Eid homecoming and return flow between April 22 and May 13, 2022.

The 707 prospective passengers did not complete the travel requirements and were either unvaccinated, sick, or showed reactive COVID-19 test results, KAI’s vice president for public relations, Joni Martinus, said here on Tuesday.

“The discipline of health protocols that KAI does is a form of support for the government which is seeking to realize exodus activities this year to be the beginning of the economic revival, and is hoping that there will be no increase in (COVID-19) cases after the homecoming period,” he explained.

Currently, he said, the regulations for train passengers are still in accordance with the Ministry of Transportation’s circulars No. 39 and No. 49 of 2022, which have been implemented since April 20.

KAI passengers are required to wear masks, wash their hands with soap, keep their distance, stay away from crowds, reduce mobility, avoid eating together, and use hand sanitizers.

Customers also need to be in good health, that is, they must not be suffering from flu, colds, coughs, loss of olfactory senses, diarrhea, and fever, and their body temperature must be no more than 37.3 degrees Celsius.

“To help customers implement the health protocols, KAI is consistently distributing health kits to long-distance train customers, containing KN95 masks and wet wipes for free,” Martinus said.

Meanwhile, the volume of long-distance train customers departing on May 9, or D+6 of Eid al-Fitr, was recorded at 127,480, with occupancy reaching 100 percent. On Tuesday (May 10), or D+7 of Eid, the number of departing passengers was recorded at 96,272, with occupancy pegged at 77 percent.

Source: Antara News

May 10, 2022

Bogor adjusts activities restrictions, scraps PCR, antigen test rule

The Bogor city government, West Java, has adjusted to the new, relaxed community activities restrictions policy by removing the requirement for PCR and antigen swab tests for public activities after the 2022 Eid holiday.

Bogor Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto said in a statement here on Tuesday that the city government will monitor data on the spread of COVID-19 through residents’ complaints at all public health centers and neighborhood (RW) emergency posts during the current Level 2 community activities restrictions (PPKM) period.

“If there is any indication, please take PCR test right away. There’s no official policy (on this),” he added.

He further informed that there is no special regulation requiring travelers visiting Bogor city to undergo self-isolation.

The lack of such requirements is owing to the adequate medical facilities in the local area. Bogor city has even recorded the second-highest vaccination coverage for booster vaccinations in West Java province as of Tuesday.

The city recorded a 35.11-percent vaccination rate, just below Bandung

district, which reported a rate of 35.26 percent.

Since the Eid holiday, an average of one, two, and zero COVID-19 cases have been recorded.

However, the government will monitor changes in data on the disease’s spread for a week in order to determine the next policy, Sugiarto said.

Meanwhile, director general of regional administration at the Home Affairs Ministry, Safrizal, has announced the extension of the restrictions policy in Java and Bali despite there being no exponential increase in cases.

The extension has been imposed simultaneously in all regions of Indonesia, albeit with some changes, including changes in the number of regions at each PPKM level, in particular, there has been a decline in the number of regions at Level 1 and 3 PPKM; changes in the operating hours of restaurants functioning at night; and the removal of the PCR and antigen test requirements for several activities in Java and Bali regions.

After the 2022 Eid holiday, there have been additional active cases of COVID-19, however, their number has not been significant enough to indicate a spike, he informed.

The ministry will still monitor the changes in conditions and evaluate the effects of national activities restrictions, he said.

This has been stated in the Instruction of the Home Affairs Ministry Number 24 of 2022, which has extended community activity restrictions in Java and Bali, and the Instruction of the Home Affairs Ministry Number 25 of 2022, which has extended community activities restrictions outside Java and Bali Regions from May 10 to 23, 2022.

Source: Antara News

May 10, 2022

Indonesia’s COVID-19 recoveries climb up by 659

Indonesia’s tally of COVID-19 recoveries increased by 659 on Tuesday, according to the COVID-19 Handling Task Force.

According to data received from the task force here on Tuesday, so far, the number of total recoveries since March 2020 has reached 5,886,870.

On Tuesday, the highest number of recoveries were recorded in West Java at 222, Central Java (186), Jakarta (83), East Nusa Tenggara (33), and East Java (31), the task force said.

Meanwhile, the data showed that 456 people were confirmed positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday. Provinces that recorded the most new cases were Jakarta, with 150 cases; West Java, with 98 cases; Banten, with 51 cases; East Java, with 36 cases; and Central Java, with 34 cases.

With the additional cases, Indonesia’s total case count since March 2020 reached 6,049,141.

On Tuesday, Indonesia’s COVID-19 death toll swelled by 20, taking the total number to 156,416.

The task force reported that, as of Tuesday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Indonesia stood at 5,855, down 223 compared to the previous day.

Further, as many as 5,183 suspected cases were identified, while the number of tested specimens reached 208,148.

Earlier, government spokesperson for COVID-19 handling, Reisa Broto Asmoro, had invited the community to support testing, tracing, and treatment (3T) to prevent a spike in COVID-19 cases after the Eid exodus period.

“We can prevent this spike in COVID-19 cases with strict health protocols and vaccinations, both booster and complete doses,” Asmoro said.

As part of efforts to boost community immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021, targeting as many as 208,265,720 citizens across the country.

According to the task force data, as of Tuesday, May 10, 2022, as many as 199,352,565 Indonesians have received the first vaccine dose, 165,707,687 have received the second dose, and 41,133,856 have received the booster dose.

Source: Antara News

May 10, 2022

Govt sees decline in COVID-19 testing among people

The number of people undergoing COVID-19 testing has continued to decline, government spokesperson for COVID-19 handling, Wiku Adisasmito, has revealed.

“Unfortunately, the number of people undergoing COVID-19 testing continues to decline,” he said at a press conference on COVID-19 handling in Indonesia, which was accessed online here on Tuesday.

The number of people undergoing testing for COVID-19 has continued to decline after March 2022, he noted. Earlier in mid-March, the number of people tested had reached 1 million per week. However, last week, only around 300 thousand people got tested against the virus.

In fact, according to data from Google Mobility, as of May 6, 2022, the trend of mobility among the community has increased evenly in 33 out of the 34 provinces in Indonesia.

The data showed that, in general, an increase in mobility occurred in retail outlets, recreational and grocery stores, parks, and public transportation centers, he said. Meanwhile, overall, people’s mobility in the workplace and offices declined.

“For that reason, we need to improve this (testing) because the more people are tested, the more we will see an accurate view of COVID-19 transmission in the community,” he said.

“We can prevent this spike in COVID-19 cases with strict health protocols and vaccinations, both booster and complete doses,” Asmoro said.

The spokesperson urged people to get tested if they experience COVID-19 symptoms after taking part in the exodus.

The first case of COVID-19 in Indonesia was confirmed in March 2020. According to data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, as of May 10, the nation has recorded a total of 6,049,141 coronavirus cases, 5,886,870 recoveries, and 156,416 deaths.

Source: Antara News