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Indonesia has striven to bolster multi-sectoral collaborations for development of the global health security policy (GHSP), according to Secretary-General of the Ministry of Agriculture Kasdi Subagyono.

Entering its second year of implementation, the GHSP, which was kicked off in June 2021, held its first project steering committee in hybrid mode, according to a release issued by FAO Indonesia and received here on Friday.

The meeting brought together senior-level officials from relevant line Indonesian ministries and governmental bodies along with international development partners to fortify multi-sectoral collaboration for policy development in the health sector.

“The world needs to be better prepared for new and re-emerging infectious diseases by promoting the one health approach that prioritizes collaboration among human, animal and environmental health sectors,” Subagyono noted in his opening remarks.

The ministry’s secretary general further added that the spirit of collaboration lies at the very core of Indonesia’s 2022 G20 Presidency that also focuses on facilitating stronger post-pandemic global recovery.

Acting as co-chair of the Steering Committee, Rajendra Aryal, the FAO representative in Indonesia and Timor Leste reiterated the centrality of the global health architecture in the G20 agenda.

“The FAO has been working very closely with the Government of Indonesia and has always been ready to provide the required technical support to the One Health approach,” Aryal emphasized.

For the past 16 years, the FAO, through its Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), has partnered with the Government of Indonesia to bolster the local animal health capacity, delivered training and technical assistance on disease surveillance, conducted laboratory diagnostics, carried out outbreak investigation, and ensured preparedness and response as well as Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) control by applying the “One Health” approach.

“We hope this project would be able to further strengthen collaboration between the relevant line ministries and government bodies and achieve our common strategic goals both nationally and internationally,” according to Director General of Livestock and Animal Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Nasrullah stated.

In co-leading the meeting, Nasrullah invited the senior officials to collaboratively support the project on a daily basis to build resilient health and agri-food systems for the people.

The GHSP project will run until 2024 and focus on technical assistance in four key areas: multi-sectoral collaboration and policy development; surveillance, laboratory, and risk management; and disease preparedness and response with a One Health focus, and national poultry health and control of antimicrobial resistance.

While it will be mainly implemented by the FAO and Ministry of Agriculture, the project will also receive close technical guidance from other relevant line ministries and government bodies, such as the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of National Development Planning and National Agency for Disaster Management.

Source: Antara News

The bed occupancy rate at West Jakarta’s COVID-19 referral hospitals has increased in recent days, officials informed.

At 23 hospitals designated as isolation facilities for COVID-19 patients, 731 beds have been filled as of Friday.

“(A total of) 731 isolation beds at 23 COVID-19 referral hospitals have been filled,” head of the disease prevention and control section at the West Jakarta health sub-department, Arum Ambarsari, informed.

In addition, 88 of the 144 ICU beds at each referral hospital have been occupied, she said.

Patients who are being treated in hospital have severe symptoms and congenital disease, she disclosed. Meanwhile, asymptomatic patients are being advised to self-isolate at home, she said.

Isolation centers have been set up at the Hasyim Asy’ari Mosque and Pesaki Flats in Daan Mogot, Ambarsari informed.

Additionally, hundreds of health workers have been dispatched to treat COVID-19 patients in hospitals and isolation centers, she said.

She assured that her team would provide the best services to patients. She then urged people to continue following the health protocols when conducting activities outside their homes to suppress COVID-19 transmission.

Of late, Indonesia has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases due to the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, she noted.

While many studies have proved that Omicron is not as dangerous as the Delta variant, it has a significantly faster rate of transmission, she said. This has led to the Omicron triggering a spike in cases in a short time, she added.

The Health Ministry has predicted that the peak of Omicron cases would be three to six times higher than the peak of the Delta variant.

With cases continuing to increase, the government has been pushing vaccinations. It has already rolled out booster vaccines for people who have completed the first two doses to suppress COVID-19 spread.

According to officials, most of the people who have died of Omicron so far have been unvaccinated.

Source: Antara News

Indonesia’s G20 Presidency has offered an opportunity for learning and working with other countries on digital connectivity and recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, chairman of the Indonesian Telematics Society (MASTEL) Sarwoto Atmosutarno has said.

“Use this opportunity for sharing and collaboration. Let’s share what has successfully worked with other countries. Then what we feel is still lacking, let’s cooperate with other countries, we can learn from them,” Atmosutarno remarked at the ‘2022 DEWG’s Connectivity and Post COVID-19 Recovery’ virtual discussion here on Friday.

For example, Indonesia can develop micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to recover its economy, he said.

“In Europe, there are small and medium enterprises (SME), I think the concept is the same on how they use digital platforms. Let’s collaborate,” he remarked.

The G20 forum is a space to learn and collaborate on connectivity and post-pandemic recovery efforts that can be carried out by the government sector, Atmosutarno added.

Currently, the Indonesian government is running the e-government program as part of efforts to organize government services electronically through the use of information technology, he noted.

“The government has the e-government program that is encouraged to use connectivity. Now we look at the G20 (member states), which countries have been effective in implementing e-government,” he said.

According to Atmosutarno, the steps to realize e-government must not only be implemented by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics but also other ministries.

At the Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) of the 2022 Indonesian G20 Presidency, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics presented three priority issues, one of which was the “Connectivity and Post COVID-19 Recovery,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the second issue was digital skills and digital literacy, and the third issue was cross-border data flow and data free flow with trust, which focused on data flow governance across national borders, he added.

Source: Antara News

The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said it has continued to improve technology-based weather, climate, earthquake, and tsunami early warning services.

“We hope the strengthening of technology-based weather information can convey information to the public quickly and accurately,” Head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Center (BBMKG) Region I Medan Darmawan said here on Friday.

During a meeting with regional apparatus organizations (OPD) of North Sumatra, he informed that the BMKG provides a general view of the conditions in North Sumatra in accordance with its duties, in collaboration with the North Sumatra Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD).

BMKG is also currently focusing on strengthening its human resource capacity to ensure clean, clear, and qualified procurement of goods and provide quick, precise, and easily understood meteorology, climatology, and geophysics services with a high level of accuracy, he informed.

“We are ready to support North Sumatra BPBD in disaster socialization to reduce the impact and risk of geo-hydrometeorological disasters in North Sumatra through BMKG data services,” he added.

Meanwhile, field coordinator of data and information for BBMKG Region I Medan, Eridawati, made a presentation on the potential for disasters in North Sumatra based on the characteristics of geo-hydrometeorological disasters in the province.

The potential for disasters in North Sumatra generally stems from extreme weather including strong winds, high waves, floods and landslides, droughts, forest fires, poor air quality, climate change, earthquakes, and tsunamis, she explained.

Reducing the risk and impact of geo-hydrometeorological disasters in North Sumatra requires coordination and synchronization among all BPBDs in North Sumatra, and in particular with the local Regional Apparatus Organization Forum, she said.

“This includes data service support and installation of meteorology, climatology, and geophysics tools such as AWS, AWOS, ARG, radar, rain gauge posts, and earthquake sensors,” she added.

Meanwhile, a researcher at BBMKG Region I Medan, Marzuki Sinambela, said that the use of meteorology, climatology, and geophysics data is expected to support the performance of BPBD in North Sumatra as a working partner.

He cited the example of an earthquake in North Sumatra in 2021, which was recorded as many as 2003 times.

“The record of this incident can certainly be a lesson learned, especially in synergizing data and information among regional apparatus organization forums to strengthen the capacity of the regional apparatus in disasters in the province,” he remarked.

Source: Antara News

Indonesia recorded 40,489 positive COVID-19 cases on Friday, with Jakarta chalking up the highest number of daily cases at 10,707, the Health Ministry informed.

West Java logged the second-highest number of daily cases at 8,945 cases, followed by Banten, which recorded 5,218 cases, the ministry said in a press statement released on Friday.

East Java was next with 4,506 cases, followed by Central Java with 2,651 cases.

The ministry also pegged the number of COVID-19 deaths at 100 on Friday, with 39 fatalities reported in Jakarta, 13 in Bali, 12 in Central Java, 10 in East Java, and 8 in West Java.

Meanwhile, the number of patients recovering from COVID-19 on Friday stood at 15,767, with Jakarta clocking 7,400 recoveries, East Java 2,869, Banten 1,917, West Java 1,590, and Central Java 695.

On the national scale, the number of active cases or patients receiving treatment rose by 24,622 to reach 312,808 on Friday.

At least 363,565 specimens were tested at laboratories across the country on Friday, with the positivity rate pegged at 22.13 percent.

The recent spike in COVID-19 cases has been attributed to the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the peak of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant could be up to six times higher than the Delta peak.

“The transmission is very high and Indonesia will definitely experience this. If the previous peak of cases hit 57 thousand, in the future, we need to be more careful,” he cautioned.

“In some other countries, (the Omicron peak rate) has been three to six times compared to the peak of cases due to the Delta variant,” he noted at an online press conference recently

He said that the number of cases in the United States reached 800 thousand per day during the Omicron outbreak compared to 250 thousand cases per day during the Delta outbreak.

In France, the number of cases reached 360 thousand per day during the Omicron surge, which was more than the 60 thousand cases per day recorded during the Delta wave, he added.

Source: Antara News

Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi has said that the cumulative COVID-19 recovery rate in Surabaya City, East Java, has reached 93.5 percent as of Thursday.

“Meanwhile, the recovery rate for COVID-19 patients infected by the Omicron variant is 86.05 percent,” he informed here on Friday.

The city government of Surabaya is continuing to make efforts for anticipating and handling COVID-19 transmission in the city, he affirmed. The government has successfully provided the right handling for COVID-19 patients, he added.

The treatment of COVID-19 patients varies according to their condition, as well as comorbidities, he noted. The average recovery period of patients with no or mild symptoms is 3–7 days, he said.

“Yet, patients are still advised to self-isolate for 10–14 days, which is the optimal isolation period even though the swab test has shown a negative result,” he added.

Head of the Surabaya Health Office Nanik Sukristina said the steps taken to treat COVID-19 patients have included providing isolation centers and paid hotels, among others.

“We have also provided free medicines, consultations with clinicians, and treatment until (the patients are) recovered,” she said.

The health office has increased the number of health workers, facilities, and equipment at isolation centers and provided treatment facilities to COVID-19 patients, she added.

The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Indonesia in March 2020.

According to data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, as of February 11, 2022, Indonesia has recorded a total of 4,708,043 COVID-19 cases, 4,250,277 recoveries, and 144,958 deaths.

The Ministry of Health detected the first Omicron case in Indonesia on December 15, 2021. With the spread of the new variant, Indonesia has recorded a significant increase in COVID-19 cases.

Meanwhile, based on the data from lawancovid-19.surabaya.go.id, as of Friday, February 11, 2022, the total number of active COVID-19 cases in Surabaya reached 2,569, with an addition of 1,386 new cases and 1,196 recoveries on Friday.

Source: Antara News