Indonesia Highlights: KPK Arrests South Sulawesi Governor Nurdin Abdullah | Indonesian Health Minister Aims to Vaccinate 38 Million Indonesians by June 2021 | Mount Merapi Continues to Spew Hot Clouds

East Java governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa agreed.

“Public services personnel are vulnerable [to Covid-19] because of their exposure to the pandemic, while the elderly’s frail health put them at risk,” she noted. “We hope that mass vaccinations will facilitate these citizens' needs,” she said.

Indonesia’s bid to vaccinate the elderly was hampered by unclear information on registering fo the vaccine, as well as larger than expected queues in hospitals and other health facilities.

Indonesia authorized Covid-19 vaccines for the elderly after tests in Brazil in early February indicated that the Covavax vaccine made by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac is safe to use for older people.

The bulk of Covid-19 vaccines used in Indonesia comes from Sinovac, though the country also received other vaccines from the AstraZeneca, Novavax and Pfizer pharmaceutical companies.

Source:

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2021/02/27/18273521/menkes-targetkan-38-juta-orang-sudah-divaksin-covid-19-pada-akhir-juni-2021. 

Mount Merapi Continues to Spew Hot Clouds

Mount Merapi continues to live up to its billing as Indonesia’s most active volcano, after the mountain was seen to spew hot clouds up to 1000 meters into the atmosphere.

“The seismographs detected the hot clouds at an amplitude of 28 millimeters. The phenomena lasted 99 seconds,” said Geological Disaster Research and Technology Center head Hanik Humaida on Saturday.

The BPPTKG has put Mount Merapi on level III alert of Siaga [Watch], the second highest level below the level IV advisory of Awas [Beware] since November 2020. Observers have seen hot and molten lava flows down the volcano.

The heightened volcanic activity caused the mass evacuation of hundreds of people living on its slopes, and shut down all economic activity.

Source:

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2021/02/27/21292971/gunung-merapi-kembali-keluarkan-awan-panas-guguran-meluncur-hingga-1000