A combination of natural and human intervention has helped keep two villages in Jambi safe from peatland fires this year, but villagers are still worried that they will not be enough to fight potential fires, especially with funds being diverted to the COVID-19 emergency.

The government must check the readiness of each school throughout the country before embarking on the controversial school reopening plan amid the recent spike in new COVID-19 cases, the Association for Education and Teachers (P2G) has said.

National COVID-19 task force chief Doni Monardol has advised the public to remain at home during the year-end holidays due to potential extreme weather in the next two to three weeks.

Six alleged sympathizers of Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab were shot dead by members of the Jakarta Police in a purported altercation at the Jagorawi toll road in the early hours of Monday. The incident resulted in divergent accounts issued by the police and FPI, raising questions about what actually transpired on Monday morning.

The government still needs to assuage concerns over the treatment’s real-world effectiveness and waits for BPOM to greenlight the vaccine’s emergency use before it can begin inoculating people.

Heavy downpours battering North Sumatra since Thursday have caused floods and landslides in some parts of the region, claiming the lives of eight people.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is tracing deeper the flow of funds in a bribery case involving Social Affairs Minister Juliari Batubara, including the possibility of streams into political parties.

The three new appointees are the Health Ministry's director for direct infectious diseases, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, the Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency's (BPOM) drug registration director, Lucia Rizka Andalucia, and state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma corporate secretary Bambang Heriyanto.

The first consignment of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by China's Sinovac Biotech has arrived in Indonesia, but the government still has to wait for emergency use authorization before starting the vaccination program, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has said.

Vaccinologist and internist Dirga Sakti Rambe believes hoaxes surrounding a COVID-19 vaccine and immunization in general to be dangerous. He said that even without hoaxes, public acceptance of the potential coronavirus vaccine was already low.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said on Monday that Indonesia had submitted a vaccine request form to COVAX Facility, a global COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan that aims to help buy and fairly distribute vaccines.

Parents have begun to weigh in on sending their children back to school next year after the government announced changes in school reopening policies last month, but the absence of procedural standards on top of accelerated transmission of COVID-19 has cast doubts.

Indonesia’s ongoing battle against corruption appears to be making little headway as fewer people expressed enthusiasm for the government’s efforts to prevent illicit transactions and prosecute graft perpetrators over the past two years, a recent study by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) has found.

“This is about people’s lives. We need to take preventive measures before the situation gets worse."

Social Affairs Minister Juliari Batubara and his subordinates had purportedly accepted roughly Rp 12 billion (US$582,020) in bribes from a number of suppliers during the first wave of the ministry’s aid distribution.

Over the past six days, the regency has recorded 433 new cases.

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil has blamed Thursday’s spike of 1,648 daily cases in the province on data discrepancies.

According to IDI data, which was released on Saturday, the total figure comprised 192 doctors, 14 dentists and 136 nurses. The deceased doctors were 101 general practitioners (including four professors), 89 specialists (seven professors) and two residents.

After being intubated for a week, Ulul was moved into the intensive care unit where he stayed for two weeks.

Despite COVID-19 awareness-raising campaigns, suspected COVID-19 cases and close contacts of confirmed cases are still having difficulty getting a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. 

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Firli Bahuri said during a press conference on Sunday morning that Juliari, along with his subordinates Matheus Joko Santoso and Adi Wahyono, had purportedly accepted roughly Rp 12 billion (US$582,020) in bribes from a number of suppliers during the first wave of the ministry’s aid distribution earlier this year.

In his first rally appearance since he lost to Democrat Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 presidential contest, the Republican Trump reminded the chanting crowd that he came to southern Georgia to persuade them to vote Republican in runoffs on Jan. 5.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has renewed his support for people with disabilities, hoping to improve accessibility and provide equality and more fair chances, in a speech that marked the commemoration of the International Day of Disability.

As countries begin taking the leap by approving the use of candidate vaccines to fight the pandemic, the Indonesian government issued on Friday a decree to allow for the use of vaccines currently being developed by certain drugmakers.

The Supreme Court published on Friday a manual providing guidance to judges on underage marriage exemptions in courts, in a bid to curb child marriages in the country.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has launched the SDG7 road map for Indonesia to help the country accomplish its sustainable energy goals amid the challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year, less than 50 percent of waste in Indonesia was handled properly despite improvements to the national waste collecting system.

The national COVID-19 task force has said that the Health Ministry will add more hospital rooms to treat patients should Indonesia face a case surge of 100 percent.

“In 2021, the budget will be around Rp 300 billion [US$21.24 million],” said Bambang. 

A survey taken over the long holiday weekend in October presents data that may irrefutably link the alarming surge in COVID-19 cases this month to a declining rate of public compliance with the health protocols.