Coronavirus news Indonesia

A couple of interesting articles that I just read on the Jakarta Post:

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/202 … nough.htmlhttps://www.thejakartapost.com/news/202 … -move.html

I believe the authorities are beginning to realize that a lockdown may well be the best path forward in order to beat this pandemic. Really hoping it doesn't come to that.

Soft opening hours 11.30 - 8pm was 10 -10 no army but a police truck/ bus

Same here, all the supermarkets are opening an hour later than normal opening hours. Not sure why but perhaps it's got to do with disinfecting everything. I know that all supermarket trolleys at the 3 or so places that I regularly visit are disinfecting the trolleys and floors and everything, so perhaps that's what they are doing every morning and evening.

With army and police at malls (here anyway) i doubt it is to do with cleaning but with different opening hours probably

Out earlier for some work and a loaf of bread.
All quiet everywhere but a lot of fresh food shops have closed up as they're selling so little. Had a hard job finding brownies as I didn't want to go to a mall and 2 out of 3 shops on my road have closed up for lack of customers.
Fair chance the staff are unemployed for the moment  so it would be nice if things got back to normal quickly.

Stood outside mall revised hours now 12-8, typical local shops 90% closed seen no street food open
Grim times
On a plus point hardly any traffic

Automatic stay permit extension

https://coconuts.co/bali/news/indonesia … turn-home/

Thanks for that information. I didn't realise that there was no need to visit immigration, but it makes sense.

On thursdsy (last week) if you came to indonesia after 5th February you did not need to visit immigration, before this date you are meant to make self known to immigration, i posted several links over the last few days on the thread "emergency visa" with various information including health issues, this was only for British expats, nationals from Aus still had issues as at last Thursday, no idea about now

Due to the increased number of cases of Covid-19 and because some people are not self isolating, the city of Bandung, which is Indonesia's fourth largest city is moving towards a partial lockdown. Some of the largest roads in the city including Jl. Asia Afrika, Jl. Merdeka, Jl. Dipenoogoro and Jl. IR. H. Juanda (Dago) are already closed from 8am to 3pm and 6pm to 9pm.

https://en.tempo.co/read/1325576/anies- … ies-online

Anies Baswedan Urges Jakartans to Order Groceries Online

This makes sense for anyone in larger towns and cities as you can do your shopping with little or no contact with anyone. I noticed my favourite local supermarket had set up a special online ordering desk with staff taking orders, printing them out, then runners grabbing items to suit and sending them out for delivery.

I have to pop back tomorrow for some forgotten items so I'll get the details and order online from them when possible.
As before, but excepting bakeries and other fresh, 'day shelf life' products, all stock levels are pretty much normal.

Still no rice krispies anywhere.

EDIT - As a bonus, this is keeping workers in jobs that would otherwise have been made unemployed as a result of the covid problem.

Massive job loss here sadly, yards closing (10s of thousands) hotels closing ( 1000s) crime rate through the roof very soon as was the case in 2016/17 when work dried up

Gwmeath wrote:

Massive job loss here sadly, yards closing (10s of thousands) hotels closing ( 1000s) crime rate through the roof very soon as was the case in 2016/17 when work dried up

Not so many here but I see fewer and fewer people working in service industries - Must be a lot out of work, just not as many as you're seeing there.

At certain fabrication yards that i wont name or companies and in various locations within indonesia and not just my location too many to mention, very sad, many hotels also closing for good, some with 50% reduced hours/ shifts
My company essential personel only and working from home

Gwmeath wrote:

At certain fabrication yards that i wont name or companies and in various locations within indonesia and not just my location too many to mention, very sad, many hotels also closing for good, some with 50% reduced hours/ shifts
My company essential personel only and working from home

Been a couple of weeks since I used a hotel but them letting staff go is hardly a shock. Many shops, especially bakeries and restaurants are closed so there goes a good few more, at least for the next month or two, maybe longer.
I noticed one supermarket had cut down on staff a lot, but my favourite place has kept a lot on, just doing different things. I'll be signing up for their delivery service tomorrow, that cutting out another lot of contact with anyone offline.

As a note, they seem to be knocking deliveries out quickly, seems to be about 30 minutes or less + delivery time.

I'll give this anti-corona method a miss

https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/viral- … -covid-19/

It's perfectly acceptable for anyone to believe even the dumbest of hoaxes related to COVID-19, as long as they keep the stupid to themselves and not spread it to anyone else, least of all small children.

Recently, a video has gone viral in Indonesia showing a family smoking “herbal” cigarettes indoors. A man, who appears to be the one filming, can be heard saying to the camera: “In order to resist the coronavirus, we, as a family, are smoking. Hopefully, if Allah wills it, COVID-19 will be blocked.”

Among the smokers were two young boys — one of whom looks to be as young as five — who were each holding and puffing on their own cigarettes. A woman, with a cigarette in hand, is seen cradling an even smaller child on her lap while she smoked.

Fake news can be hard to spot - or maybe not

https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/indone … oes-viral/

Indonesian officials have warned citizens not to eat up a clearly fake viral video of a magical talking newborn baby who suggested that eating boiled eggs can help the body resist the novel coronavirus.

At a time when a health crisis has brought out the worst of the online hoaxes, the fact that we have been told not to believe the video below is, frankly, depressing.

I'm not into the idea of spreading fakes, even obviously silly ones, but I rather enjoy eating eggs so I may well take the baby's advice tomorrow, and maybe next Wednesday as well.

I like the government's line on liars, those who spread fake stories about covid 19

https://en.tempo.co/read/1325795/police … oronavirus

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Metro Police arrested four people suspected of spreading hoaxes about the new coronavirus that causes the Covid-19. The suspects were arrested in different areas........
....... Among the hoaxes spread by the suspects are the lockdown in Kalimalang Road, Cipinang Melayu, a lie that the toll road to Jakarta had been blocked, a video of a supposed Covid-19 victim at PGC Cempaka Mas, and a video about how the virus is spreading in Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

Silly things to do

The suspects are now facing up to six years in prison.

Not a silly thing to do.

Fools that spread fake news can cause panic and make things a lot worse than they actually are, so hopefully others will take this as a warning not to be ruddy stupid and spread false stories.

The GBP to IDR exchange rate looks good. I wonder if covid deserves thanks, at least in part

1 Pound sterling equals 20,180.52 Indonesian Rupiah

If the Govener says this, alarm bells shoukd start ringing in 3, 2, ....

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/202 … month.html

Fred wrote:

The GBP to IDR exchange rate looks good. I wonder if covid deserves thanks, at least in part

1 Pound sterling equals 20,180.52 Indonesian Rupiah

US$ has never been stronger against IDR moved just moved my us$ from 2013/14 bank manager looking for a rope 🤣

Will wait on GB£

Supermarket. As I dropped off my 2 empty Aqua gallons, I heard a woman asking if they had sugar. The assistant replied they had it, but customers were limited to one bag each. That made me take a closer look at stock levels, noticing some of the less popular items were missing, but all fast selling stuff was available as normal.
I'm guessing the one bag restriction is to stop panic buying rather than due to shortages - a sensible move, but I suspect the woman concerned didn't agree as the look on her face told a story.
She stormed out in a huff - I smiled.
As for the missing stock - I'm guessing that's a business move as customers are rare so they're deliberately letting less popular items run out.
That's a less popular shopping place that always has lower stock levels on display, and always has a lesser selection, but other places seem to be pretty much normal.
Still no Rice Krispies.

Shopping, probably for the last time in a while.
All common foods are in stock but less popular items are out.
The place I went today was stocking up like crazy with Ramadan stuff, rice, and other popular products.
They have set up a dedicated mail order service, that including gojek delivery.
Banks are on short hours, and one demanded I wear an impossible to buy facemask before I could enter.
Others are being sensible.

Many places over here have closed. One of our kost tenants moved out last night as her restaurant boss is closing for the moment, so she moved back to her village.

The huge fridge we bought is still pretty full as is the freezer. Loads of food that we managed to freeze before self isolating. So I think we can probably last a month or two no problem. Still able to order plenty of food from nearby restaurants. This morning got some rendang and rice and the wife made a delicious nasi goreng rendang with fried egg and green veggies.

We also stocked up a bit on hand sanitizers, 70% alcohol hand sanitizers and masks a few weeks ago. That was important to have visited the supermarket at 6am when it opened and to have stocked up a bit. Now is impossible to gets many of these these things where we live, although my wife is still managing to buy bulk of hand sanitizers and gloves. The gloves she sent a carton to a local hospital that had run out and the hand sanitizers went to an orphanage.

Drove to McDonald's today and surprisingly  there is still plenty of activity on the streets. You'd hardly know that there was a pandemic in the process of taking over the country.

I have, as usual, enough for a week, plus we have about 5 kg of rice and a little extra chicken, that being enough for at least 2 or 3 weeks.
My medium size fridge is full, and that's easily enough.

Foreigners banned - Returning Indonesians quarantined

https://jakartaglobe.id/news/indonesia- … g-citizens

Jakarta. The Indonesian government will temporarily ban all foreign visitors from entering the country and oblige all its citizens returning from other countries to undergo a two-week quarantine to stop imported cases of Covid-19, officials said on Tuesday.

"The president has instructed that the existing policies [on Covid-19 outbreak] need to be strengthened, so it was decided to ban visits and transits by foreign citizens temporarily," Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in Jakarta.

The good news for expats

Diplomatic passport holders and foreigners who hold stay and work permits in Indonesia will be exempt from the regulation, but health protocols continue to apply to them, Retno added.

Some still want lockdowns by city, but central government must approve first in order to make them legal.

https://jakartaglobe.id/news/jakarta-pr … t-lockdown

The request was againrefused out of fear of social chaos (according to reports).

Fred wrote:

Foreigners banned - Returning Indonesians quarantined

The good news for expats

Diplomatic passport holders and foreigners who hold stay and work permits in Indonesia will be exempt from the regulation, but health protocols continue to apply to them, Retno added.

Any idea Fred, whether, as a French national, I might be allowed to go back home to Indonesia?
Are Kitas or Kitap holders really exempt?

If the newspaper is accurate, you can return on a valid KITAS, but check before you travel.
The situation is fluid so it's a day by day thing.
2 weeks isolatiin seems 100% sure.

Thanks Fred, yes I hope the article is accurate, gonna contact the Embassy in Paris in order to get more info...

I would asvise you to get a health clearence certificate from youre departure country im sure that will be a requirement soon
If you are using a working KITAS for example, ask your employer about your wellbeing ie, the place you live, many are being given notice to leave long term rentals (hotels) its a nightmare.

Gwmeath wrote:

I would asvise you to get a health clearence certificate from youre departure country im sure that will be a requirement soon
If you are using a working KITAS for example, ask your employer about your wellbeing ie, the place you live, many are being given notice to leave long term rentals (hotels) its a nightmare.

Yes, actually the health certificate is already compulsory I believe.
I hope some neighbours in my cluster won't freak out when they see I am back...

scotocs wrote:

Gwmeath wrote:

I would asvise you to get a health clearence certificate from youre departure country im sure that will be a requirement soon
If you are using a working KITAS for example, ask your employer about your wellbeing ie, the place you live, many are being given notice to leave long term rentals (hotels) its a nightmare.

Yes, actually the health certificate is already compulsory I believe.
I hope some neighbours in my cluster won't freak out when they see I am back...

Probably will freak out, friends recently returned from Jakarta, not made very welcome and they are Indonesian

scotocs wrote:

Gwmeath wrote:

I would asvise you to get a health clearence certificate from youre departure country im sure that will be a requirement soon
If you are using a working KITAS for example, ask your employer about your wellbeing ie, the place you live, many are being given notice to leave long term rentals (hotels) its a nightmare.

Yes, actually the health certificate is already compulsory I believe.
I hope some neighbours in my cluster won't freak out when they see I am back...

Ive just been sent information about this the health certificate is correct and also says " willingness to complete 14 days isolation at a goverment facility" mentions no cost or location/s of said facility

Gwmeath wrote:

Ive just been sent information about this the health certificate is correct and also says " willingness to complete 14 days isolation at a goverment facility" mentions no cost or location/s of said facility

Could you let me know where you read that information please?
Errhhh.... I am not sure I want to end up in a government facility. Sadly it looks like I gonna have to wait for quite a while before going back home...

Yes sure imagrasi.go.id

Ill try to upload the pictures of the attachments, not sure if or hot to do it from a phone or laptop, computers and scousers dont mix

Ive sent you a pm, information recieved from local goverment

Actually I went to the immigration website and found the info a bit confusing as it says:

All foreign visitors (as specified above) arriving in Indonesia are required to:

    hold a health alert card issued by health authorities from their home countries.
    have traveled to or been in or transit through a region/country with no confirmed cases of COVID-19 for the last 14 days, provided with a boarding pass or inbound tickets.
    undertake a mandatory 14-day quarantine at designated facilities (for example, a hotel), or in their ports of arrival or at home, conducted by the Indonesian government.

It's going to be complicated to have been in a country with no confirmed cases!
Well I guess it's better I wait for the availabilty of serological tests that we should have in France at the end of the lockdown that will let us know whether or not we've been exposed to the virus. Anyway, traveling right now would be too complicated I'm  afraid and since I cannot be sure about my status regarding the virus, it's safer for me and also for others to stay quiet right now even though it's hard to be away from my wife and kid in these troubled times.

Mudik is getting close, but it's a very bad idea this year

https://en.tempo.co/read/1327188/luhut- … oronavirus

The comments regarding disease spread are very much valid.