Indonesia Highlights: Indonesia Receives Third Batch of Covid-19 Vaccines From AstraZeneca | Indonesia Still Has Much to Do to Reach Herd Immunity | Indonesian Police Arrest 3 Men For Protesting Eid

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia has received more Astrazeneca vaccines, as the country seeks to step up its herd immunity drive. The police also moved to quash misinformation following the government's controversial decision to ban holiday travel. 

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REUTERS/DADO RUVIC via ABC INDONESIA Illustration of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Indonesia has received 1,389,600 ready to use vaccines from the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Saturday.

“The delivery of the vaccines is the third of its kind from the Covax Facility,” said Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi. The latest shipment of vaccines from the British pharmaceutical company has increased the number of AstraZeneca vaccines up to 6.5 million doses.

“To date, Indonesia has secured 75,910,500 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from the GAVI Covax Facility and other sources. Of this number, 68,500,000 are from Sinovac, 6,410,500 are from AstraZeneca, and another 1 million doses from Sinopharm,” she added.

Retno reminded the public to comply with health protocols, due to the increase of confirmed Covid-19 cases around the world.

“A World Health Organization [WHO] report datedMay  2, 2021 noted that the number of global Covid-19 cases over the past week amounted to over 5,7 million cases, more than the first six months of the pandemic,” she warned.

“The number of Covid-19 cases around the world has reached over 157 million cases, with 3.2 million deaths, since the coronavirus was detected last year. Southeast Asia experienced the largest surge, with a 19 percent increase in cases over the past week from May 2,” Retno asserted.

“The Southeast Asian region, which by WHO standards includes countries like India, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Maldives, East Timor, Myanmar, dan Bhutan, currently made up 47 percent of global cases within this time period."

Retno also affirmed Indonesia’s stance to phase out patents for the Covid-19 vaccine to increase their global production and guarantee countries around the world equal access to the vaccine.

Source:

https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/05/09/074326574/indonesia-receives-third-batch-of-covid-19-vaccines-from-astrazeneca?page=all#page2. 

SHUTTERSTOCK/Ahmad Fozi Illustration of He'd Imuunit

Indonesia Still Has Much to Do to Reach Herd Immunity

Indonesia still has a long way in reaching President Joko Widodo’s goal of attaining herd immunity before 2022.

“The number of Indonesians who received their second Covid-19 vaccination numbered 8.583.854 people, or 21.27 percent of the nationwide target,” said the Ministry of Health’s website at www.vaksin.kemkes.go.id on Saturday.

The website noted that the figures are lower than the 13,284,422 people who received their first shot, or 32.92 percent lower than the nationwide target for the vaccination drive.

The figure of less than 22 million is lower than “the 40,349,049 people designated to be fully vaccinated in the first two stages.” The website revealed that most of those who received their vaccinations are from the health sector, public officials, and the elderly.

Less than 1.5 million health workers or 100.9 percent have received their first shot, while 1,364, 073 of them have received their second jabs. Of 17 million public officials, more than nine million received their first shot, while 5.4 million others have received their second shot.

Source:

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/05/08/17172771/update-8-mei-858-juta-orang-sudah-divaksin-covid-19-dosis-kedua-1328-juta. 

THINKSTOCK Behind bars

Indonesian Police Arrest 3 Men For Protesting Eid al-Fitr Travel Ban

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police has arrested three men for agitating against the government’s ban on mudik, or the annual homecoming travel during the Eid al-Fitr or Idul Fitri Islamic holiday between May 6 to 17.

“[The suspects] spread messages from their WhatsApp group on Friday calling on transportation companies to hold protests attoll roads in Java, Bali, and Sumatra, so as to pressure the government into lifting the holiday travel ban,” Yusri asserted on Saturday.

The suspects denied planning the unrest. “The three men claimed that they merely forwarded the message from one of their WhatsApp groups onto another group in the apps. They also maintained that they do not know the details of the activity, or even plan to participate in the protest,” he noted.

Yusri added that the police are trying to find the suspects organizing the protest. The police confiscated three cell-phones and sim cards that the three men used to forward the provocative messages.

The police charged the three men for spreading misinformation under the country’s Electronic Transaction and Information Law. If found guilty, they face up to six years in jail and a Rp. 1 billion [$70,646.40] fine.

The government imposed a total ban on homecoming travel throughout Indonesia during the Idul Fitri holiday to prevent large-scale transmission of Covid-19 cases, as well as a potential surge in the pandemic such as that which occurred in India.

Source:

https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/05/09/053405674/indonesian-police-arrest-3-men-for-protesting-eid-al-fitr-travel-ban.