JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday (Apr 11) ordered swift rescue and relief efforts after eight people died in an earthquake that hit off southern Java island.

Three others were badly injured in Saturday’s magnitude-5.9 quake and more than 1,180 buildings were damaged, most of them slightly, the disaster agency BNPB said. Some houses were flattened, images in Indonesian media showed.

Two shelters for the displaced have been set up in the town of Lumajang.

All of the casualties were reported in 15 districts and cities in East Java, the closest province to the epicentre of the quake, which struck in the Indian Ocean.

“I have ordered … immediate emergency response to search and find victims under the rubble and to treat the wounded,” the president, known by his popular name Jokowi, said in broadcast remarks.

 

 

 

 

There were no reports of the quake disrupting production facilities, but the BNPB said 150 public facilities were damaged. Most industrial areas in East Java are located in the northern side of the island.

Jokowi noted that as Indonesia straddles the volcanic “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific, natural disasters such as earthquakes could happen anytime, adding that Indonesians should always be prepared.

READ: Indonesia president visits cyclone-hit islands

READ: Evacuation centres open as cyclone intensifies off Western Australia

The Southeast Asian nation was struck last week by tropical cyclone Seroja, which triggered landslides and flash floods killing more than 170 people on islands in East Nusa Tenggara province.

A magnitude-6.2 quake that hit Sulawesi island in January killed more than 100 people.

Source: Reuters/jt

Source: Reuters/kg

The Health Ministry today reported 1,510 new Covid-19 cases with most of the new cases in the Klang Valley.

There were also eight deaths.

The number of recoveries was lower than that of new cases for the third straight day, leading to a continued rise in active cases.

The R-naught number for the country has hit 1.06, up from 0.81 on March 3. A number of more than one signifies that the spread of Covid-19 is increasing.

• Active cases: 15,059
• Patients in ICUs: 194
• Intubated: 81

The Klang Valley accounted for 28.9 percent of new cases while East Malaysia accounted for 28.4 percent. The two regions are the worst hit by Covid-19 currently.

In Sabah, where 131 new cases were reported, state cabinet minister Masidi Manjun reported that Tawau has reported a disproportionately high number of new cases for the fifth straight day.

Deaths

The eight fatalities raised the national death toll to 1,321.

There were four deaths in Sarawak, followed by Selangor (3) and Pahang (1).

The deceased were aged between 48 and 83.

For a detailed breakdown of the reported deaths today, please refer to our Covid-19 tracker site.

Clusters

A total of 343 out of 1,451 clusters are still active. From the active clusters, 57 of them contributed to the new cases today.

Eight clusters were declared extinguished namely Jalan Pria, Jalan Mega Cemerlang, Jalan Industri Dua, Tapak Bina Damar, Jalan Perusahaan Tiga, Rantau Tanjung, Jalan Cochrane and Tapak Bina Lembah Subang.

There were also nine new clusters discovered.

Details of the new clusters are as follow:

Industri Jalan Kebun cluster
District(s): Klang and Petaling in Selangor
Locality/Source: Techno Industrial Park, Klang
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: April 7
Total infected: 35 out of 111 screened

Pujut Satu cluster
District(s): Miri in Sarawak
Locality/Source: Jalan Pujut 1
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: March 29
Total infected: 24 out of 116 screened

Bandar Baru Kubang Kerian cluster
District(s): Tumpat, Bachok and Kota Bharu in Kelantan
Locality/Source: Financial institution in Bandar Baru, Kubang Kerian
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: April 7
Total infected: 34 out of 344 screened

Jalan Tun Ismail cluster
District(s): Kepong, Titiwangsa and Cheras in Kuala Lumpur; Petaling in Selangor
Locality/Source: Public administration centre at Jalan Tun Ismail, Chow Kit, Kepong
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: April 2
Total infected: 15 out of 32 screened

Jalan Kempas Satu cluster
District(s): Muar in Johor
Locality/Source: A furniture factory at Jalan Kempas 1, Bukit Bakri, Muar
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: April 10
Total infected: 8 out of 279 screened

Jalan Padu Industri cluster
District(s): Johor Bahru in Johor
Locality/Source: A factory at Jalan Padu, Kawasan Perindustrian, Johor Bahru
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: April 8
Total infected: 15 out of 270 screened

Kampung Kelanang cluster
District(s): Kuala Langat in Selangor
Locality/Source: Kampung Kelanang, Banting
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: April 6
Total infected: 12 out of 33 screened

Jalan Kapitan cluster
District(s): Maruin in Sarawak
Locality/Source: Jalan Kapitan, Marudi, Miri
Cluster category: Community
First case: March 30
Total infected: 22 out of 182 screened

Kampung Tanjung cluster
District(s): Kuala Nerus and Dungun in Terengganu; Pasir Puteh in Kelantan
Locality/Source: Index case’s residence at Kampung Tanjung, Batu Rakit, Kuala Nerus
Cluster category: Community
First case: April 6
Total infected: 13 out of 273 screened

Source: Malaysiakini

SYDNEY: Australia said on Wednesday (Apr 7) it will ask the European Union to release more than 3 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, testing Brussel’s claim it is not blocking shipments, as the country struggles to vaccinate its population.

The European Union on Tuesday denied blocking vaccine shipments to Australia, which has fallen dramatically behind in its scheduled vaccination programme. The EU said it was not responsible for AstraZeneca’s failure to uphold commitments to other countries.

READ: EU sharpens COVID-19 vaccine export rules as third wave of infections rises

READ: EU rejects accusations of COVID-19 ‘vaccine nationalism’

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia was asked by the EU to withdraw export permit applications and letters requesting supplies have gone unanswered.

Morrison said if the EU was now indicating its willingness to release shipments, he would again ask for the 3.1 million doses to be released. The 3.1 million doses were scheduled to arrive in Australia by the end of March.

“We obviously want those millions of doses,” Morrison told reporters in the capital Canberra.

“Given statements made overnight, that apparently there is no obstruction to that and then I would hope that could be readily addressed.”

Morrison said that if the EU permits the exports, Australia will donate 1 million doses to Papua New Guinea, which is struggling to cope amid soaring case numbers.

Last month the EU, at Italy’s request, blocked a shipment of 250,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine to Australia, citing vaccine shortages in Europe.

It later denied Australia’s request to review the blockage, the first such refusal since Brussels established a mechanism to monitor vaccine flows in late January.

The vaccine dispute between Australia and the EU underscores massive shortfalls of the AstraZeneca shot across the EU and the impact of any vaccine export curbs on countries that had pre-ordered doses.

The Australian government has blamed the delay of the 3.1 million AstraZeneca doses for it falling behind in its own vaccination programme.

Australia received an initial shipment of 300,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in late February, which it said was the last received. It has also imported doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine.

The AstraZeneca vaccine arriving from Europe was to underpin the early stages of Australia’s vaccine drive, supplementing 50 million shots of the vaccine that will be produced locally by CSL.

Australia’s inoculation programme is running behind schedule, with about 670,000 people vaccinated against an initial target of 4 million by end-March.

AstraZeneca did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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Source: Reuters/vc

TAIPEI: The truck which was involved in the fatal Taiwanese express train crash last week, killing 50 people, slid onto the tracks only around one minute before the accident happened, the government said on Tuesday (Apr 6), as it released dramatic footage of the impact.

The packed train carrying almost 500 passengers and crew slammed into a truck near the eastern city of Hualien on Friday, causing it to derail and the front and middle parts to crumple. It was the island’s worst rail accident in seven decades.

The truck had slid down a sloping road from a building site onto the tracks just outside a tunnel. Officials suspect the truck’s brakes were not properly applied and are investigating the manager of the site.

Young Hong-tsu, chairman of Taiwan’s Transportation Safety Board, said they had reconstructed how the truck had ended up on the rails, tracking its movements down the dirt road before it slipped off a bank and landed on the railway line, its front end facing the oncoming train.

Young showed recovered footage taken from inside the driver’s cabin as he desperately tried to slow down before hitting the truck at the entrance to the tunnel, causing the train to derail.

“How much time was there between this truck sliding onto the track and it hitting the Taroko express? Actually it was only a little bit more than one minute,” he said, referring to the name of the train.

Young said the driver had no time to properly slow the train and avoid the accident as he had only seconds to react, the truck being on a bend and not visible until it was too late.

In a screenshot from the footage, the truck is clearly seen straddling the track, with leaves and branches sticking out of its front from when it slid down the wooded bank.

READ: Workers remove more wreckage from deadly Taiwan train crash

The victims included two Americans and one French national.

Young said Taiwanese authorities had been in touch with the US National Transportation Safety Board and France’s transport safety body to see if they were interested in helping with the investigation.
Source:

Reuters/lk

The Health Ministry today reported 1,300 new Covid-19 cases with Sabah reporting new cases in the triple digits for the first time in 16 days.

The number of new cases in East Malaysia (38.6 percent) exceeded that of the Klang Valley (25.5 percent) which has been gradually on the decline.

Malaysians made up the bulk of the new cases (71.5 percent). 

• Active cases: 14,161
• Patients in ICUs: 189
• Intubated: 88

Cases by states

According to a tweet by Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Masidi Manjun, of the 112 new cases in Sabah, more than half (69 new cases) were reported in Tawau alone.

Sarawak reported the highest number of new cases (385) followed by Selangor (242) and Kelantan (126).

The relatively high number of new cases in Sarawak was detected mostly through existing clusters and close contacts. 

Sarawak is the fifth worse hit region in terms of the total number of Covid-19 cases and deaths. However, its Covid-19 deaths are disproportionately higher than that of the Klang Valley.

The Health Ministry also reported an R-naught figure of more than one at the national level for three days straight.

Currently, Perlis, Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Penang and Selangor have a R-naught figure of less than one. 

Deaths

There were another five Covid-19 related deaths reported today. The national death toll currently stands at 1,300. 

The victims were reported to be from Selangor (1), Sabah (3) and Kelantan (1). The youngest was a Malaysian citizen, 36, from Sabah.

Details of the victims are available on Malaysiakini’s Covid-19 tracker site.

Clusters

The Health Ministry has reported 354 Covid-19 clusters in the country of which 62 had new cases today.

The single cluster with the most number of cases was the Tembok Sri Aman cluster which involves a prison in Sarawak and was classified two days ago.

Of the 10 new clusters that were classified today, three involved community clusters – Palekbang, Peruda and Belaoh – and one involved a religious event – Belacon.

Details of the new clusters are as follow:

Integrasi Rawang Tiga cluster
District(s): Gombak in Selangor
Locality/Source: Construction company at Jalan Industri 3/6, Rawang Intergrated Industrial Park, Rawang
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: April 5, targeted screening
Total infected: 13 out of 18 screened

Jalan Badli Shah cluster
District(s): Petaling, Klang and Hulu Langat in Selangor
Locality/Source: A government facility at Jalan Tengku Badli Shah 9/21, Seksyen 9, Shah Alam
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: March 27, index case with symptoms
Total infected: 21 out of 244 screened

Jalan Maju cluster
District(s): Sibu in Sarawak
Locality/Source: Vicinity of Jalan Maju, Sibu
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: March 27, index case with symptoms
Total infected: 34 out of 80 screened

Jalan Kota Kubang Labu cluster
District(s): Kota Bharu and Bachok in Kelantan
Locality/Source: A service provider at Jalan Kota Kubang Labu, Tumpat
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: March 30, index case with symptoms
Total infected: 26 out of 318 screened

Jalan Mega Industri cluster
District(s): Johor Bahru in Johor
Locality/Source: A factory at Jalan Mega 1/8, Taman Perindustrian Nusa Cemerlang, Gelang Patah, Johor Bahru
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: April 5, targeted screening
Total infected: 21 out of 41 screened

Kampung Palekbang cluster
District(s): Tumpat in Kelantan
Locality/Source: Index case’s residence at Kampung Palekbang, Tumpat
Cluster category: Community
First case: March 31, index case with symptoms
Total infected: 28 out of 42 screened

Taman Peruda cluster
District(s): Kuala Muda in Kedah
Locality/Source: Vicinity of aman Peruda, Sungai Petani, Kuala Muda
Cluster category: Community
First case: April 2, index case with symptoms
Total infected: 16 out of 37 screened

Kampung Belaoh cluster
District(s): Besut in Terengganu
Locality/Source: Vicinity of Kampung Belaoh, Besut
Cluster category: Community
First case: April 4, index case with symptoms
Total infected: 6 out of 81 screened

Padang Hijau cluster
District(s): Kluang in Johor
Locality/Source: Detention centre in Padang Hijau
Cluster category: Detention centre
First case: April 6, screening of detainees in transit
Total infected: 12 out of 17 screened

Belacon cluster
District(s): Lahad Datu and Tawau in Sabah
Locality/Source: Vicinity of Kampung Bukit Belacon, Lahad Datu
Cluster category: Religious event
First case: April 5, index case with symptoms
Total infected: 17 out of 196 screened

Source:Malaysiaki

The Health Ministry today reported 1,070 new cases with Johor reporting its lowest number since mid-December last year.

Malaysian citizens were overwhelming the largest number of new cases (84.5 percent). 

Most of the new cases were in the Klang Valley (39.5 percent), followed by East Malaysia (28.7 percent). 

• Active cases: 14,278
• Patients in ICUs: 180
• Intubated: 89

States

Selangor recorded the highest number of new cases (327). Notably, close to 1 in 4 of the new cases in Selangor were detected through “other screenings” that are not linked to clusters or close contacts. 

The second highest number of new cases was reported in Sarawak (225), followed by Penang (133) and Kuala Lumpur (88). 

At the national level, the R-naught level was 1.01 as of yesterday.

A R-naught number of 1 indicated that the spread of Covid-19 was stable and a number of less than one indicated that the spread was reducing.

As of yesterday, the regions with a number of more than 1 were Sabah, Kelantan, Malacca, Labuan, Putrajaya, Pahang, Perak and Sarawak.

Deaths

There were seven new Covid-19 deaths reported today. The national death toll stood at 1,295. 

The deaths were reported in Selangor (4), Sabah (2) and Johor (1). The victims age was between 46 and 86. 

Details of the victims are documented in Malaysiakini’s Covid-19 tracker site.

Clusters

The Health Ministry reported that there were 355 active Covid-19 clusters in the country, down from 488 a month prior. There are 48 clusters that reported new cases today. 

There three most active clusters are Jalan Jelawat (34, Penang; Perak),  Kampung Binyu (34, Sarawak) and Pulau Enoe (14, Labuan).

There were six new clusters classified by the Health Ministry today, including another “educational institution”. 

It is uncertain if this was included in the tally of new “educational institution” clusters announced by Health Minister Dr Adham Baba this morning. All educational institutions resumed in-class lessons early March. 

Taman Komersial cluster
District(s): Hulu Langat in Selangor
Locality/Source: A factory at Jalan 6/5 Pandan Indah Commercial Centre, Taman Komersial, Hulu Langat
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: March 26, targeted screening
Total infected: 14 out of 23 screened

Lorong Dua cluster
District(s): Petaling and Kuala Selangor in Selangor
Locality/Source: A factory at Lorong 2B, Jalan TUDM, Kampung Subang Baru, Shah Alam
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: March 30, targeted screening
Total infected: 41 out of 332 screened

Jalan Inovasi cluster
District(s): Cheras and Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur;Putrajaya in Putrajaya
Locality/Source: kafetaria near dengan Jalan Inovasi, Kuala Lumpur
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: March 29, index case is a close contact of Covid-19 positive patient
Total infected: 14 out of 49 screened

Jalan Mata Kuching cluster
District(s): Malacca Tengah in Malacca
Locality/Source: An education institution at Jalan Taming Sari, Mata Kuching Dalam, Melaka Tengah
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: March 20,  pre-medical procedure screening
Total infected: 16 out of 67 screened

Persiaran Utama cluster
District(s): Seremban in Negeri Sembilan
Locality/Source: A service provider at Persiaran Utama S2, Garden Homes, Seremban
Cluster category: Workplace
First case: April 3, targeted screening
Total infected: 18 out of 90 screened

Bukit Sera cluster
District(s): Kuala Muda in Kedah
Locality/Source: Social event at Kampung Bukit Sera, Batu 2, Jalan Kuala Ketil, Sungai Petani, Kuala Muda
Cluster category: Community
First case: April 2, index case with symptoms
Total infected: 13 out of 18 screened

Source:Malaysiakini