DON'T PANIC.... well, maybe a little bit.

[dafluff]

Moderation Note:

I have removed a post that was just a copy-paste (in Bahasa Indonesia, on top of that), full of un-sourced misinformation.

Please do not post content like that.

Thank you.

 

[dafluff]

So Jakarta apparently scaled back on public transport, I guess to encourage people to travel less? But of course it had to unintended effect that people who still needed to travel are now bunched up both in the waiting areas and in the busses/trains.

Jakarta's management of Covid-19 is clearly about as competent as their management of floods.

 

[Dave70]

Last year more than a million from Indonesia went to Saudi Arabia for Umroh, not including those who went for Hajj. So if it is now closed due to the pandemic, Indonesia will save at least 2 billion US dollars in foreign reserve assuming each traveller spend US$2,000 for hotel, plane tickets, souvenirs and other expenses. The hard currency saved can be used to import more testing kits.

 

[harryopal1]

I am no fan of Trump but the present Democrat attitude of tear him to bits at all times will, I suspect, cost them at the next elections.

Trump has been condemned for saying not everyone should be tested for COVID-19 as if it were some elitist plot to wipe out the undeserving. Even while unsure of the actual costs per test other than believing it is costly, to try and test every person in the US would cost many billions of dollars.

Australia's Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy has warned against needlessly using up the relatively limited stocks available of testing kits.

"...Only people who travelled internationally in the 14 days before illness onset or who had close or casual contact in the 14 days before illness onset with a confirmed case of Covid-19, and also have a fever or acute respiratory infection need to be tested.
People with severe pneumonia with or without recent international travel are also classified as a suspect case requiring testing..... "

S

 

[Tupai Hitam]

Jakarta's management of Covid-19 is clearly about as competent as their management of floods.

I took a TransJakarta bus to the office this morning (about 6.30am). Very long wait, so the shelter was crammed with people. The bus itself was over-crammed. Old people were falling. Passengers were squished together like tinned sardines. Coughing and sneezing on each other. There was ZERO signage at the busway shelters to announce or explain the new policy. No guards on the bus that I squished into either. Would have been better to give commuters a day's notice with signs and personal announcements at stations/shelters, explaining that non-urgent travel must be avoided. Rather than this morning's total shambles. At least police were present when I alighted at Monas, slowing down entry to the shelter to prevent crushes.

 

[Tupai Hitam]

I really worry about the common working people in Indonesia. Especially those working in hotels, restaurants and the like. I’d guess many are making much less than normal, if they aren’t laid off.

Some of the hotel workers I know get half their monthly income from the service charge that the hotels collect. Low occupancy=hardly any service charge income.

Many of the big hotels here have been offering (pushing) one-month unpaid leave for most staff.

 

[scouser59]

I took a TransJakarta bus to the office this morning (about 6.30am). Very long wait, so the shelter was crammed with people. The bus itself was over-crammed. Old people were falling. Passengers were squished together like tinned sardines. Coughing and sneezing on each other. There was ZERO signage at the busway shelters to announce or explain the new policy. No guards on the bus that I squished into either. Would have been better to give commuters a day's notice with signs and personal announcements at stations/shelters, explaining that non-urgent travel must be avoided. Rather than this morning's total shambles. At least police were present when I alighted at Monas, slowing down entry to the shelter to prevent crushes.

Scary !

 

[make_batik_great_again]

FED and Canadian central bank have lowered the key interest rate again. Fed by 1% (!), it is now 0.00 to 0.25 %. Some European central banks plan to initiate some coordinated actions.

If there is still somebody who thinks that there is no significant thread to the world economy and the impact will not be that bad, please wake up...

 

[make_batik_great_again]

This is probably one of the reasons why some people are annoyed by politics nowadays:

Germany tries to stop US from luring away firm seeking coronavirus vaccine

Berlin is trying to stop Washington from persuading a German company seeking a coronavirus vaccine to move its research to the United States.

www.cnbc.com

Update on this: CureVac declared that they will reject the proposed exclusive contract with the USA. “We want to develop a vaccine for the whole world, and not for individual states,” Christof Hettich, chief executive of Dievini Hopp Biotech Holding, told the newspaper Mannheimer Morgen.

U.S. Offered ‘Large Sum’ to German Company for Access to Coronavirus Vaccine Research, German Officials Say (Published 2020)

The United States says it will share any vaccine breakthroughs with the world, but German officials appeared rattled by its reported overture to a biotech firm.

www.nytimes.com

 

[jstar]

Jakarta Governor (and former education minister) Anies Baswedan is shutting down schools for 2 weeks, and going to distance learning.

It is killing me that its Anies who is taking proactive steps. I hope he has plans to handle the effects of millions of kids not going to school. He is a self interested politician, but on balance I think he is doing the right thing.

This is not bad.

English version...

 

[dafluff]

Many of the big hotels here have been offering (pushing) one-month unpaid leave for most staff.

The gov't should declare that this years THR be disbursed immediately on a per week basis (so 1/4 payment x 4 weeks) to support those who are not able to work from home. This should be done with the strict instruction to only spend it on urgent items. All companies who can not shut down operation, have to go to 1/4 staffing, with proper distancing implemented at all times. The staff should be rotated on a weekly basis, allowing a 2 day window where ops are nearly shutdown to naturally disinfect (viruses reportedly live up to 2 days on surfaces).

Immediate moratorium on all loan payments, whether is private, enterprise or govt.

The government should disburse funds to all provinces to allow them to buy testing kits/set up labs. There is absolutely no reason why there can't be a lab in each province at the very least. The tests are expensive, but they are not THAT expensive (approx $30/test, but no word on set up fees). S Korea, a country like 1/50th the size of Indonesia has over 60 labs capable of doing tests. Indonesia only has 3 as of this week, and only about 10,000 test kits, wasting a critical 2 months to ramp up. Just based on this alone, the health minister needs to get canned.

 

[make_batik_great_again]

This is not bad.

English version...

Good step. Only 80 clicks so far, but I hope more people will listen to it when it gets shared. And probably, many people already listened to it on the radio or where it is originally from.

 

[dafluff]

The first zinc ionophore he discusses is chloroquine - which has been used as an anti-malarial for quite some time. Here in the US, it's a drug that can only be prescribed by a physician (due to side effects). I'm not sure what the status is in Indonesia, as I've been able to go and buy quite a few pharmaceuticals over the counter at various apotiks.

In Korea (which has been doing a pretty good job dealing with coronavirus), are using hydroxychloroquine - 400mg as noted here. Hydroxychloroquine, I' believe, has less side effects.

There are two interesting clinical studies on quercetin that show it's effectiveness as an anti-viral.

All 3 of these are available in Indonesia without prescription. Chloroquine is widely available (as Chloroquine Sulphate), manufactured generically, and is cheap. The dosing he talks about would cost something less than Rp 30k.

Hydroxychloroquine is also available (brand name Hyloquin). It is about 5x more expensive than Chloroquine.

Quercetin is available, but mostly only from up-scale supplement stores, and at the dosing talked about in the video would quickly be very expensive.

All the above are also available online, although buyer beware, I guess...

Funny enough, when I was researching the prices for these on Toped, some merchants are already advertising Chloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment. You gotta give it up to these enterprising individuals for keeping tabs with the bleeding edge of medical research....

 

[jstar]

Talking about medication; the French Ministry of Health is warning against the use of NSAID's as painkillers. The anti inflammatory medicines may aggravate the virus.

So better use Paracetamol (as Panadol) instead of Ibuprofen.

 

[R Cameron]

Indonesia only has 3 as of this week, and only about 10,000 test kits, wasting a critical 2 months to ramp up.

Recent news says there's now 10 testing laboratories and more being trained:

1. BBTKLPP Jakarta Provinsi yang dilayani: DKI Jakarta, Jawa Barat, Banten, Lampung dan Kalimantan Barat Tempat kedudukan: Jakarta

2. BBTKLPP Yogyakarta Provinsi yang dilayani: DI Yogyakarta dan Jawa Tengah Tempat Kedudukan: Yogyakarta

3. BBTKLPP Surabaya Provinsi yang dilayani: Jawa Timur, Bali, Nusa Tenggara Barat dan Nusa Tenggara Timur Tempat kedudukan: Surabaya

4. BTKLPP Banjarbaru Provinsi yang dilayani: Kalimantan Selatan, Kalimantan Tengah, dan Kalimantan Timur. Tempat kedudukan: Banjarbaru

5. BTKLPP Medan Provinsi yang dilayani: Sumatera Utara, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, dan Sumatera Barat. Tempat kedudukan: Medan

6. BTKLPP Palembang Provinsi yang dilayani: Sumatera Selatan, Bangka Belitung, dan Bengkulu Tempat kedudukan: Palembang

7. BTKLPP Batam Provinsi yang dilayani: Riau, Jambi, dan Kepulauan Riau Tempat kedudukan: Batam

8. BTKLPP Makassar Provinsi yang dilayani: Sulawesi Selatan, Sulawesi Tengah, Sulawesi Tenggara dan Sulawesi Barat Tempat kedudukan: Makassar

9. BTKLPP Manado Provinsi yang dilayani: Sulawesi Utara, Gorontalo, dan Maluku Utara Tempat kedudukan: Manado

10. BTKLPP Ambon Provinsi yang dilayani: Maluku, Papua, dan Papua Barat Tempat kedudukan: Ambon

https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/20...dilakukan-di-10-laboratorium-mana-saja?page=2.

 

[tomtoba]

New member here signing in to get in on this covid-19 discussion.

I am a long-term expat here staying in North Sumatra province for 7 years. Having payed close attention to "health care" anecdotes from locals and expats over the years I can say with certainty that there will be 0% chance of getting any legitimate medical treatment. I don't want to sound alarmist, but if you are a high-risk you had better get to a safer place, i.e. malaysia or singapore fast. So much misinformation abounds, from Jokowis reccommendation to drink herbal ginger tea to official government banners around samosir island to get plenty of exercise, stay away from uncooked meat, and eat lots of fruit as ways to combat the virus. Same shit they said when encased in smoke from the peat fires in Riau. Was it the same or different health minister who wanted to disallow importation of used clothing to Indo because it spread HIV? my 2 cents

 

[Dave70]

In Malaysia, mosque activities and Friday prayers nationwide postponed from 17-26 March. I wonder when the Indonesian government will make similar announcement.

Covid-19: Mosque activities, Friday prayers postponed from March 17-26

PETALING JAYA: All religious activities at mosques - including Friday prayer - will be suspended for 10 days following a decree by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the matter, says Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Seri Dr Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri.

www.thestar.com.my

 

[dafluff]

New member here signing in to get in on this covid-19 discussion.

I am a long-term expat here staying in North Sumatra province for 7 years. Having payed close attention to "health care" anecdotes from locals and expats over the years I can say with certainty that there will be 0% chance of getting any legitimate medical treatment. I don't want to sound alarmist, but if you are a high-risk you had better get to a safer place, i.e. malaysia or singapore fast. So much misinformation abounds, from Jokowis reccommendation to drink herbal ginger tea to official government banners around samosir island to get plenty of exercise, stay away from uncooked meat, and eat lots of fruit as ways to combat the virus. Same shit they said when encased in smoke from the peat fires in Riau. Was it the same or different health minister who wanted to disallow importation of used clothing to Indo because it spread HIV? my 2 cents

Hi and welcome to the forum!

I agree with the assessment re "health care". If you end up as one of the people that need ventilators, you are likely to have a bad outcome here.

 

[Chiron]

Talking about medication; the French Ministry of Health is warning against the use of NSAID's as painkillers. The anti inflammatory medicines may aggravate the virus.

So better use Paracetamol (as Panadol) instead of Ibuprofen.

Yes, this is a very important point, and thanks for posting. This is something Dr. John Campbell (a now popular retired doctor with a YouTube channel from the UK) has mentioned. He described the situation recently from Italy, where apparently NAISDs were a primary course of action, and news that it was having very negative effects. Dr. Campbell, even seems to sound some caution regarding Paracetamol, arguing that fever is there for a reason. In any case, here is his most recent video specifically discussing this topic at length:

 

[Bad_azz]

Yes, this is a very important point, and thanks for posting. This is something Dr. John Campbell (a now popular retired doctor with a YouTube channel from the UK) has mentioned. He described the situation recently from Italy, where apparently NAISDs were a primary course of action, and news that it was having very negative effects. Dr. Campbell, even seems to sound some caution regarding Paracetamol, arguing that fever is there for a reason. In any case, here is his most recent video specifically discussing this topic at length:

Thank you for introducing this Dr to us, I have watched all the videos he posted so far today, and he is extremely credible, factual (as much as anyone can be) and takes each factor and explains things very clearly- it answers many questions indeed - especially on this video (latest to date as far as I am aware- edit, I misread the date, but still very recent)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTFk34nhoI