Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Indonesian quarantine and inspection service ramped up its surveillance over the entry and outflows of meat and livestock products potentially spreading the swine influenza virus that Chinese scientists say could likely jump to humans.

“Systematic surveillance over the swine flu virus is the key precautionary measure against a possible influenza pandemic in future. We are preparing for its contingency plan,” Director of Livestock and Animal Health at the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture I Ketut Diarmita stated.

In conversation with local journalists in Jakarta on Thursday, Diarmita spoke of his directorate general boosting the capacity of Indonesia’s animal health laboratories to identify potential swine flu threats from the early stage.

The discovery of this swine flu, with pandemic potential, had left people perplexed since they believed it was similar to that of the African Swine Fever (ASF), when in fact, they are two different diseases, he noted.

“The cases of hogs in Indonesia are related to the ASF and not to the swine flu,” he clarified.

ANTARA noted that the ASF virus cases that could be traced in Indonesia in 2019 and February 2020 had killed thousands of hogs in North Sumatra and several other provinces in Indonesia, including Bali.

Apart from Indonesia, the ASF virus had also swept across countries in Asia, including China, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

Many are alarmed by the outbreak since no vaccine has yet been found to cure the ASF virus that has a lethal effect on pigs but will not contaminate humans.

In connection with the potential threats of swine flu, the Indonesian Health Ministry has also intensified its precautionary measures after the Chinese scientists recently cautioned that the pig influenza virus bearing genotype 4 (G4) could likely be transmitted from swine to humans.

“Our surveillance remains in place to detect any possibility,” Director of Disease Prevention and Control at the Indonesian Ministry of Health Siti Nadia Tarmizi stated.

However, the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture that has an authoritative area of detecting workers at the hog farming industry had yet to find any potential spread of G4 EA H1N1 viruses in pigs and humans in Indonesia, she revealed.

“We have yet to receive any report on this matter,” she noted, adding that the swine flu-related viruses were actually classified as a “self-limiting disease”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had grouped it into an ordinary influenza whose vaccine has been available, she pointed out.

Director General of Livestock and Animal Health at the Ministry of Agriculture I Ketut Diarmita has earlier confirmed that the ASF that had killed several hogs in Indonesia was not a swine flu.

Regarding the G4 EA H1N1 viruses, China’s Global Times reported earlier that scientists from the China Agricultural University, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and other institutes recently published their study in the US scientific journal, PNAS.

They revealed in their published report that the “pig influenza virus bearing genotype 4 (G4), which is contagious among pigs and has the possibility of jumping to humans, as the G4 virus is able to bind with human cells”, according to Global Times.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s coronavirus positivity rate, which reflects the percentage of samples testing positive, has continued to fall, head of the expert team at the Task Force for the Acceleration of COVID-19 Handling, Wiku Adisasmito, said.

“If we look at it, the positivity rate has gone down. For example, on June 15, the positivity rate was at 14 percent, and between June 22 and 28, it went down to 12 percent,” he said at a press conference in Jakarta on Thursday.

Positivity rate refers to the ratio of the number of patients with positive COVID-19 test results against the number of people who took the test.

Adisasmito stated that the positivity rate percentage, along with the incident rate of COVID-19, paints a picture of the real potential of COVID-19 infection numbers in Indonesia.

He also said that in the past few weeks, the number of confirmed cases has gone up, with over 1,000 cases reported across the country.

The number, however, is expected to continue to rise as more tests are carried out, he stated.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta: Indonesia reported 1,385 cases of the novel coronavirus disease and 789 recoveries on Wednesday, taking the country’s COVID-19 case count to 57,770 and the total number of recoveries to 25,595, a government spokesperson said.

The data was recorded as of 12 p.m. on Wednesday, and was based on the examination of 21,738 specimens, said government spokesperson for COVID-19 handling, Achmad Yurianto, at a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The government has so far carried out swab tests on 825,636 specimens using Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction and Molecular Rapid Test methods, he added.

“From the specimen examinations, it was revealed that there were an additional 1,385 confirmed cases on Wednesday, taking the total (number) of positive cases to 57,770,” he informed.

Meanwhile, 58 more patients succumbed to COVID-19 on Wednesday, taking the total death toll to 2,934. The number of patients under surveillance stood at 13,296, while 45,192 people were placed under monitoring.

On Wednesday, DKI Jakarta confirmed 217 new cases and 168 recoveries, while East Java added 185 new cases and 187 recoveries, Yurianto said.

Meanwhile, Central Java reported a total of 173 new cases and 100 recoveries, North Maluku recorded an additional 147 cases and 7 new recoveries, and South Sulawesi registered 130 new cases and 52 recoveries.

In all, there were 16 provinces that reported less than 10 new cases, and five provinces recorded no new cases, Yurianto said.

A significant number of recoveries were recorded in Bali, where 34 new COVID-19 cases were detected and 62 patients recovered from the virus. There were 10 new cases in Banten and 21 recoveries, while East Kalimantan saw 7 new cases and 15 recoveries.

In Maluku, 18 COVID-19 patients made a complete recovery, while 7 more people were diagnosed with the virus, and in West Papua, there were 3 new positive cases and 12 recoveries.

Some areas reported no new cases. Jambi registered no fresh cases and eight recoveries, Central Sulawesi four recoveries, North Kalimantan two recoveries, and Gorontalo three recoveries.

Yurianto said that all 34 provinces in Indonesia have reported COVID-19 cases, with 451 districts and cities impacted by the pandemic, indicating an increase in impacted areas by two compared to the previous day.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) highlighted that a new normal can solely be applied in regions with reportedly low cases of COVID-19 transmission backed by scientific data.

“We must not attempt to apply a new normal while it is in fact not possible based on the (COVID-19 cases) data. Do not force it. Hence, the stages must be prepared,” President Jokowi remarked during his working visit to the COVID-19 Handling Command Post in Semarang, Central Java, on Tuesday.

Jokowi highlighted the significance of each regional head and Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 to hold scientific data.

Regional heads and the COVID-19 Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling must always involve practitioners, such as epidemiologists, scientists, and medical personnel, in the decision-making process, he noted.

“Do not ever open up to the new ‘new normal’ order without going through the appropriate steps. Every time we make a policy, please use scientific data,” he remarked.

Prior to transitioning to the new normal, the local government must disseminate information to the public on the significance of adhering to health protocols.

Thereafter, regional heads and the local Task Force must decide on the right time to transition to the new normal era.

“Lest we dare to embark on the new normal while R-t is still high, above 1, and R-naught is still high. Be careful. Do not formulate policies that are not backed by clear scientific data,” he noted.

On Monday, President Jokowi had called on his ministers to go beyond their usual realm of operation and make a breakthrough to address challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. “With this good opportunity, once again, I urge that we must not work linearly. I seek a breakthrough that the community can witness and is expected to truly have an impact on accelerating this handling,” the president remarked while chairing a limited cabinet meeting on COVID-19 handling at the Merdeka Palace here on Monday.

Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, several ministers, and heads of state institutions attended the meeting, albeit with compliance to the health protocols.

He sought the deployment of more health workers and medical devices in several provinces where the COVID-19 transmission rate was still high.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) claimed to be monitoring the realization of the ministry and/or agency budget on a daily basis and vowed to directly take to task related ministers over low budget disbursement.

“I have ordered all ministries and institutions to spend the existing budget, and I monitor it every day,” President Jokowi remarked during a visit to the COVID-19 Handling Command Post in Semarang, Central Java, on Tuesday.

President Jokowi spoke of keeping tabs on the amount of budget disbursement of every ministry and state agency on a daily basis.

The head of state emphasized that if the realization of the budget absorption did not align with his expectations, he will immediately contact the minister and the head of the relevant institution to notify them and issue a warning to this end.

“If the budget disbursement is still low, I make a call immediately and directly reprimand the minister or the head of the institution,” he affirmed.

The head of state highlighted the need for such measure to ensure that ministry’s budget disbursements can be expedited, thereby contributing to an increase in money supply and stimulating the economy.

The president pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic had worsened liquidity woes and impacted the people’s economy.

“Do not allow the decrease in the level of money in circulation to further continue. We must continue to push these expenditures, so that the circulation of money in the community can increase,” President Jokowi noted.

Earlier, during the cabinet plenary session on June 18, Jokowi had strongly rebuked ministers and leaders of state institutions deemed slow in realizing the COVID-19 handling policy.

The head of state also alluded to the cabinet reshuffle option in front of the Onward Indonesia Cabinet Ministers.

“It can (lead to) dissolution of institutions and (cabinet) reshuffles. My thoughts have gone everywhere. If the need arises, perhaps issue another government decree in place of the state law (Perppu,” President Jokowi stated in a video uploaded through the YouTube channel of the Presidential Secretariat, Sunday, June 28.

Source: Antara News