The debate is centered on whether to buy all Alutsista equipment brand new for higher quality or purchase a larger number of second-hand equipment that can be deployed faster.

How should we define 2020? Perhaps one will remember it as a time of struggling to stay sane at home, having one’s salary cut, scrambling to find a new job, getting infected with COVID-19 or losing loved ones (the virus has claimed 1.65 million lives globally, with more than 19,200 deaths recorded in Indonesia).

COVID-19 patients aged 60 and above are 19.5 times more likely to die of the illness than those between the ages of 19 and 30.

GeNose detects possible COVID-19 infections through human breath. The machine, which uses artificial intelligence, produces results within a few minutes.

Unlike neighboring Singapore, Indonesia has not detected the new SARS-CoV-2 variant first discovered in the United Kingdom, but that may be due to the country’s lack of genomic and molecular monitoring, a minister has said.

State-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II) has opened a COVID-19 test service for the general public at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport’s Terminal 1 health center in Tangerang, Banten.

“That was daring and exemplary. We hope that he will be consistent and strong in facing various pressures because I am certain there will be many pressures,” JAI spokesman Yendra Budiana said on Friday.

The additional regulations include a temporary ban on entrance permits for foreigners traveling from the UK, as well as stricter health protocols for Indonesians and foreigners coming from European countries and Australia to Indonesia.

“This recommendation is specifically created for the COVID-19 Sinovac vaccine, and is subject to change as the clinical trials progress,” said the association in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Christians across Indonesia celebrated a quiet Christmas amid the COVID-19 pandemic this year, with many churches limiting physical participation in Christmas services and others moving entirely online.

President Joko Widodo appointed a new religious affairs minister to nip the emergence of radicalist sentiment in the bud and build dialogue with other religious groups.

Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, the newly appointed religious affairs minister, has promised to uphold the rights of the Shia and Ahmadiyah minority religious groups and to work to prevent their persecution.

Some 661,000 people traveled by air between Dec. 18 and Dec. 24, down 60 percent from the same period last year

In October, regional administrations were considering issuing bylaws as a legal avenue to sanction people who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has yet to approve the Sinovac vaccine’s distribution, saying it would extend the monitoring stage of the trials for another three months to determine the vaccine’s efficacy and side effects.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has appointed Hartono as the new head of the Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG), dismissing concerns over an initial plan to dissolve the state body.

From Dec. 1 to Thursday, Indonesia recorded over 5,000 cases in a single day.

"To hide the evidence, the victims’ bodies were burned and the ashes were disposed of in the Julai River in Sugapa district," Dodik said as reported by tempo.co on Wednesday.

Research conducted by the Indonesian Psychiatrists Association [PDSKJI] found that 69 percent of participants faced mental health issues related to COVID-19.

Like no other time in recent history, 2020 has been the year of people accepting fundamental alterations to life, in which unprecedented uncertainties have challenged standards of living and emotional circumstances. 

Indonesia is set to send 79 containers of hazardous materials back to Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States beginning in January, the government recently revealed.

The University of North Sumatra (USU), located in the provincial capital of Medan, has opened an investigation into rector-elect Muryanto Amin for alleged plagiarism.

Minority congregations such as GKI Yasmin and HKBP Filadelfia must hunker down this Christmas and hold virtual church services due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but the mobility curbs are anything but new for them.

The Central Java administration plans to screen holidaygoers using antigen tests at some famous tourist destinations, such as Borobudur Temple, during the Christmas and New Year holidays to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The Semarang lab center can process up to 2,000 samples per day. However, earlier in the month, the lab received 4,000 samples.

“This team, which comprises experts, doctors and medical volunteers, has been formed to monitor the quality of health treatment for doctors who are infected with COVID-19,” said Wiku in a statement on Wednesday.

Anyone caught violating courtroom protocols will be given a warning and then removed from the courtroom should they continue to ignore the procedures.

A research team from Padjadjaran University (Unpad) in Bandung, West Java, is currently designing a rapid testing method to detect COVID-19 through saliva samples. They are also preparing a mobile application to support the reporting system for rapid test kit results.

In the past few days, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, has seen an increase in the number of passengers for the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays. 

SMRC public policy manager Tati Wardi said the percentage of respondents willing to be vaccinated had dipped significantly from that recorded in the previous study.