Corona Virus Update #53    March 1, 2021

Cumulative number of reported cases: 1,223,930 (as of March 1)
Recovered: 1,341,314 
Deaths: 36,325Fatality Rate: 2.69%
Rupiah to US$14,300Jakarta Stock Exchange Index: 6338

Overview- Private Sector Gets Involved

New case detections remained flat week-to-week and the bed occupancy rate (BOR) continued to decline. The Corona Virus Task Force reported that no Indonesian hospital currently has a BOR above 70%. Testing rates improved dramatically from last week.

Vaccinators of educators has begun and Indonesian health authorities have administered 2.6 million doses of coronavirus vaccine since the mass vaccination campaign began on Jan. 13, according to government figures released on Saturday (02/27).

A total of 1.6 million citizens have received the vaccine, with around 1 million already getting double shots of the vaccine produced jointly by state-run pharmaceutical company Bio Farma and China’s Sinovac Biotech. The country is currently in the second stage of vaccination after a vast majority of registered medical workers received the vaccine in the first stage.

Indonesia’s private sector, via its chamber of commerce KADIN, expects to receive 2 million does from the Chinese state-owned manufacturer, Sinopharm. The firm utilizes inactive viruses to make its vaccine, a technique also used to create polio, rabies, and hepatitis A vaccines.

Tech giant Grab and health platform Good Doctor have opened Southeast Asia’s first Covid-19 vaccination drive-thru in Bali to inoculate thousands tourism workers and ride-hailing drivers.

Heavy rains pummeled west java and south Jakarta, causing river overflows and an important dike to rupture and widespread flooding, including in the upscale area of Kemang.

Travel- Sponsor Still Needed

Free Visa/Visa Exemption and Visa on Arrival are temporarily suspended until the COVID-19 pandemic is declared over by the Indonesian Government.

Foreign nationals can apply for a Visitor and Temporary Stay Visa if they have a legitimate sponsor in Indonesia to sponsor their visa application.

Applications must be made online by a Sponsor through the following website: https://visa-online.imigrasi.go.id/

Economic-

  • Inflation Dips: Indonesia posted an inflation of 0.10% in February, down from 0.26% in the previous month, and 1.38 % YoY. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced on Monday.
  • VAT Waived for New Homes: According to Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesia will waive value-added taxes (VAT) on new home sales, its latest move to spur property investments and jumpstart economic activity.
  • More Relocations: Indonesia’s Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita has confirmed at least three Japanese companies will relocate their facilities from China to Indonesia. They are Panasonic Manufacturing—with an investment of US$ 30 million, Denso (US$ 138 million), and Sagami Indonesia (US$ 50 million).
  • New Data Center: American multinational technology company Microsoft announced that it would establish the company’s first data center region in Indonesia and continue to roll out its training initiatives. The Indonesian data center region will be the company’s second data center in Southeast Asia after Singapore and will be among Microsoft’s 60 data centers globally.
  • New Negative or Priority Investment List: In a bid to spur both domestic and foreign investment, Indonesia has designated 245 industries as “priority” and will offer incentives to attract capital to those sectors. Dozens of sectors that had foreign investment caps are now fully open. These include: plantations; data systems and centers; fixed-line telecoms, mobile telecoms, call centers, internet access provider, Internet inter-connections, other multi-media; Job training, workforce preparation and vocational education; upstream oil-gas services and constructions; geothermal operations; electric power production generation; security consulting; real estate brokerage; department stores; warehousing; advertising; performing arts venues; retail dealerships for cars, motorcycles and trucks; car and equipment leasing; airport services and cargo handling; people’s credit banks, insurance and venture capital; hospitals, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment.

US-Indonesia Relations

Indonesian Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan held a video conference with US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, formerly US Secretary of State, to discuss clean energy. During the video conferencing, Pandjaitan and Kerry also discussed cooperation in addressing the challenge of climate change by building climate change awareness before the 26th UN Climate Change Conference.

(sources: International and Indonesia news media, Bali Update (from balidiscovery.com), Reformasi Weekly, US Embassy website)