Day: July 14, 2022

Head of the Hajj Health Center of the Health Ministry, Budi Sylvana, has urged returning Hajj pilgrims to proactively monitor their health for three weeks after their arrival in Indonesia.

“All pilgrims who return to the country are being given a Hajj Pilgrims Health Alert Card (K3JH). If they experience health issues, we urge the pilgrims to immediately consult with the nearest health facility to get treated by bringing the K3JH,” he said at a virtual press conference followed via virtual meeting platform Zoom here on Thursday.

K3JH contains data on pilgrims who experienced health issues, based on the observations of the medical team in Saudi Arabia, he informed. With the help of the information in the K3JH, medical teams at health facilities can accurately monitor potential diseases that may arise.

The cards will be distributed to pilgrims at debarkation points and will be valid for 21 days from the time they arrive in Indonesia.

According to Sylvana, COVID-19 is still among the infectious diseases that the Ministry of Health is monitoring for as pilgrims return to the country.

“Overall, in Saudi Arabia, it seems that the COVID-19 health protocols have been somewhat relaxed. Our pilgrims who conduct health checks in hospitals are not subjected to RT-PCR (testing) anymore,” he said.

He informed that the first six batches of returning pilgrims are scheduled to depart from Saudi Arabia starting July 15, 2022.

Upon the pilgrims’ arrival in Indonesia, officers will carry out health monitoring measures such as body temperature scans and check for symptoms of infectious diseases. Pilgrims whose body temperature is above 37.5 degrees Celsius will have to undergo PCR testing, he added.

Hajj pilgrims who are declared healthy will be allowed to directly return to their regions by filling out K3JH information and conducting independent health surveillance, he informed.

Source: Antara News

The Indonesian G20 Presidency is pursuing a concrete deliverables approach to realize a better life for the community, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, has said.

Concrete deliverables were also discussed at the 2nd 2022 G20 Sherpa Meeting held in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province, from July 10 to 13, 2022.

“G20 member countries have a responsibility to think about (policies for the welfare of) the people,” Hartarto remarked in a statement released in Labuan Bajo on Thursday.

Concrete deliverables are national, bilateral, or multilateral projects, which have been carried out by G20 member countries, that can serve as models for other countries to tackle similar problems.

The projects need to be relevant to the themes raised by any 2022 G20 working group.

The approach has become the focus of the Indonesian G20 Presidency since the forum is expected to provide solutions to mitigate global problems, improve people’s welfare, as well as ensure that no person, country, or region is left behind.

G20 members can propose any relevant projects that can potentially be applied in other countries, while Indonesia, as the chair of the 2022 G20 presidency, will sort the proposals according to the types of cooperation—whether collaboration through the G20 forum, bilateral cooperation, or multilateral cooperation.

The proposed projects can also involve collaborations with international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and private parties.

In addition to the cooperation characteristics, the projects will be sorted based on their impact— whether on a national, regional, or global scale.

The concrete deliverables approach is currently in the project collection stage, which is expected to be completed a week after the 2nd 2022 G20 Sherpa Meeting.

According to the statement, one of the Mexican delegates attending the 2nd G20 Sherpa Meeting said that the projects selected through the concrete deliverables approach are expected to open up jobs and boost domestic investment, thereby increasing the incentive for workers.

Source: Antara News

With the addition of 3,584 new COVID-19 cases, Indonesia’s total case tally climbed to 6,123,753 on Thursday, according to data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force.

The provinces that recorded the most new cases were Jakarta, with 1,749 cases, followed by West Java, with 723 cases; Banten, with 407 cases; East Java, with 246 cases; and Bali, with 125 cases, data received from the task force here showed.

The data also showed that 2,872 patients recovered from COVID-19 on Thursday, taking the total number of recoveries to 5,942,436. The provinces that recorded the most recoveries were Jakarta, with 1,571 recoveries, followed by West Java, with 664 recoveries; Banten, with 271 recoveries; East Java, with 224 recoveries; and Central Java, with 43 recoveries.

The country’s COVID-19 death toll reached 156,827 after 9 patients succumbed to the virus on Thursday.

Meanwhile, 24,490 active COVID-19 cases were recorded in the country, an increase of 703 compared to the previous day.

Further, as many as 5,645 people were listed in the suspected category as of Thursday, based on tests conducted on 86,512 specimens in laboratories across the country.

Earlier, spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, had said that Java and Bali islands accounted for 95.45 percent of the country’s total positive cases as of July 12, 2022.

Adisasmito appealed to the people to implement a healthy lifestyle in order to curb virus transmission.

“I need to remind you all that community activities have started to be carried out in large numbers. Whether the number of cases is rising or falling, each individual must still be responsible for implementing a clean and healthy lifestyle, continue to wear masks, and regularly wash hands,” he remarked.

Source: Antara News

The Banda Aceh Search and Rescue Agency (SAR) evacuated the body of a Filipino citizen who died in a work accident on Panama-flagged cargo ship MV Lowlands Comfort, which was sailing from Egypt to China.

The victim was identified as Crispin F. Cadiz, a crew member of the cargo ship, head of Banda Aceh SAR, Ibnu Harris Al Hussain, informed in Banda Aceh on Thursday.

“The victim was hit by a crane while the ship he worked on was sailing in the Indian Ocean on July 4, 2022. The victim was treated on the ship, but eventually passed away,” Al Hussain said.

The evacuation of the victim’s body took place in the Bay of Bengal waters, between the Aceh Islands, Aceh Besar district, and Weh Island, Sabang city.

The evacuation was carried out using SAR’s ship, KN Kresna 232. The distance of the evacuation point was 7.5 nautical miles from Ulee Lheue Port, Banda Aceh city, where KN Kresna 232 was docked.

According to Al Hussain, MV Lowlands Comfort is a cargo ship with a displacement of 43 thousand gross tons (GT), and it was sailing from the United States via the Suez Canal, Egypt, to China.

In addition to the SAR team, the evacuation also involved personnel from the Indonesian Navy, Malahayati Port Health Office (KKP), customs, immigration, syahbandar (a government port official), coastal radio unit, and community of radio for communication purposes, as well as other relevant agencies.

“Upon arrival at Ulee Lheue Port, the body was transported to Zainoel Abidin Hospital in Banda Aceh by ambulance. The plan is, the body will be repatriated to his home country through Jakarta,” Al Hussain said.

Source: Antara News

At least 52.2 million Indonesians have received the booster or third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Thursday, according to data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force.

Data received by ANTARA from the task force here on Thursday showed that the total number of Indonesians who have received their booster dose swelled by 27,067 on Thursday, taking the total tally to 52,242,030.

Meanwhile, the number of fully vaccinated people, or those who have received two vaccine doses under the nationwide vaccination program, rose by 5,575 to touch 169,423,235.

The task force’s data also showed that the number of Indonesians who have received at least the first dose swelled by 10,118 to reach 201,832,439 as of Thursday.

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.

Based on the task force’s data, so far, 96.91 percent of the targeted recipients have received the first vaccine dose, 81.35 percent have received the second dose, and 25.08 percent have received the third dose.

Earlier, government spokesperson for COVID-19 handling, Wiku Adisasmito, had said that Indonesian citizens aged over 18 years who plan to travel abroad must get the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“It is for the safety of each traveler and to ensure that the person will not become a source of (virus) transmission when they return,” he explained at a press conference on the development of COVID-19 handling in Indonesia, which was accessed from here on Wednesday.

The provision has been regulated in the COVID-19 Handling Task Force’s Circular Number 22 of 2022 on health protocols for overseas travel during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Adisasmito added.

Meanwhile, overseas travelers (PPLNs) who want to enter Indonesia must have at least received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Health screening for (COVID-19) symptoms will be applied to all PPLNs at all entry points,” the spokesperson informed.

Source: Antara News