State-owned pharmaceutical company PT Kimia Farma has delayed the rollout of its privately paid COVID-19 vaccine program a day after announcing it would begin offering the service at certain clinics starting this week.

Extending the ban on new plantations will help improve the commodity's sustainability and smallholders' livelihoods, farmers and environmentalists say.

As the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic grips the nation, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s administration faces a laundry list of public grievances over its handling of the crisis.

Chairman of Kadin Gorontalo chapter and Anindya supporter Muhalim Litty said that since the deal had already been struck between Anindya and Arjsad, the two camps had instead used the Kadin national meeting as a forum to further negotiate compromises, particularly to accommodate the demands of Anindya’s camp.

The country is continuing to receive international assistance during its worst COVID-19 surge yet. The latest batch of aid, 1,000 ventilators from Australia, arrived late on Friday.

On Thursday, the first day of operations, at least 16 mini-vans fanned out across the Jakarta area to administer 100 doses each of the Chinese-made Sinovac Biotech vaccine.

The PPKM Darurat has been expanded to cover 15 regions outside Java and Bali from July 12 to 20 as the "second wave" of COVID-19 infections spreads to other islands in the archipelago, driven primarily by the more transmissible Delta variant.

The Health Ministry's plan to give a third shot containing a dose of the Moderna vaccine to health workers amid the ongoing "second wave" has been green-lighted by the BPOM and ITAGI.

As hospitals across the country are overwhelmed with new COVID-19 patients, people undergoing self-isolation struggle getting treatment, medication and daily necessities.

In support of Indonesia’s effort to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tanoto Foundation is donating 500 tons of oxygen to the country’s hospitals, which have been devastated by a severe shortage of the medical-grade gas for treating patients.

Assistance from neighboring countries began trickling into Indonesia on Friday, as Singapore and Australia sent medical equipment and oxygen supplies, with more countries expected to deliver on their pledges,

Four hundred of the country’s 514 regencies and cities have reported cases of dengue fever this year.

Sixteen invitees to the Kadin general assembly on June 30-July 1 have tested positive for COVID-19, including a former deputy head who has since died of the disease.

Volunteer groups contend that the actual number of COVID-19 deaths is higher than the official count.

The death of Novilia Sjafri Bachtiar comes as fatalities from the coronavirus reach record highs in Indonesia, one of the countries where the Sinovac vaccine has been most widely used.

The numbers of both new COVID-19 cases and deaths among minors have doubled over the past month, while the government has introduced emergency curbs to help mitigate the country’s most severe virus wave yet.

Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto called for 43 regencies in 20 provinces outside Java and Bali to impose tighter micro-scale public activity restrictions (PPKM Mikro) until July 20, after they had been classified as “level 4” risk areas.

While the government appears to be taking serious measures to enforce the PPKM Darurat for Java and Bali, including mobilizing a joint police-military force, experts say that a multitude of successive COVID-19 policies has sowed public confusion and apathy.

The Health Ministry has announced it will seek to administer a first COVID-19 vaccine dose to 181.5 million Indonesians by the end of the year, three months earlier than the initial plan, even though the current drive has covered less than a quarter of the elderly population.

The new restrictions would apply to dozens of cities and extend from Sumatra to Papua as the highly infectious Delta variant rips across the country after battering densely populated Java.

Indonesia reported record-breaking new infections and deaths in the past week, with many hospitals in Java becoming overwhelmed with patients and running out of oxygen.

The government is being flexible in allocating the state budget for social aid programs, aimed at the low- and middle-income families affected by the latest COVID-19 restrictions in Indonesia, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said.

Canisius College’s alumni association has launched a free public vaccination program that aims to administer 5,000 doses per day in its first phase through July 18 with a focus on Jakarta, the epicenter of Indonesia's COVID-19 outbreak.

As Indonesian hospitals face oxygen, bed and personnel shortages amid the ongoing COVID-19 surge, the government has updated its requirements for inbound international travelers that includes proof of vaccination, despite the lack of a global verification standard for such documentation issued abroad.

They staple together boxes made of plywood and paint them brown. The coffins are then fitted with a lining and covered in plastic before being taken away for use.

Around 10,000 concentrators -- devices that generate oxygen -- were to be shipped from the city-state with some arriving by a Hercules cargo plane earlier on Tuesday, officials said.

From public kitchens to restaurants, communities and volunteers cook meals for healthcare workers, volunteers as well as COVID-19 patients  in hospitals, isolation centers and self-isolation to ensure food security during the latest COVID-19 restrictions in Java and Bali.

Jakarta is leading the way for COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged 12 to 17, as part of redoubled efforts to stem the tide of infection and reach herd immunity.

The government is simultaneously scaling up its efforts to procure COVID-19 vaccines, expand the national vaccine drive and impose new restrictions amid the surging transmission rate that is leaving hospitals and health workers overwhelmed.

With records most days last week and deaths surpassing 500 on several of those, the country is battling one of Asia's worst COVID-19 epidemics, fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant first identified in India.