Indonesia COVID-19

Indonesian authorities are hoping that the return of Chinese visitors will mark the beginning of the end for the island's long COVID-19 slump.

After economics and trade, the health sector has become a priority focus of Beijing's engagement with Southeast Asia's most populous nation.

The head of the state-owned firm Bio Farma says that the development of IndoVac will "help reduce the nation's dependency on imported vaccines."

In recent months, Southeast Asian nations have begun stripping away pandemic-era travel restrictions. But tourism recovery is likely to be slow.

The surge has prompted the authorities to reintroduce some limited social restrictions on Java and Bali.

Propelled by the Omicron variant, the country's daily caseload has increased more than 30-fold in just under a month.

The government made a last-minute decision to ditch a plan that would have required most of the public to pay for the jabs.

The fast-spreading coronavirus variant is clouding the region's economic recovery.

The arrival of the fast-spreading strain of COVID-19 threatens to unwind months of progress in containing the virus.

Unlike the U.S. and Europe, the nation is much less directly integrated into global supply chains.

The decision reflects the Indonesian government's desire to prioritize the attainment of herd immunity in the capital Jakarta.

After a challenging year, the region's governments have ample reason to take the emergence of the new strain seriously.

Vaccine hesitancy in the predominantly Muslim country can be traced to apprehensions that shots other than the Chinese-made Sinovac are not "halal."

Quarantine, confusion, and red tape dash hopes of tourism reboot in Bali.

After announcing that year-end travel would be permitted, the government cancelled the Christmas Eve holiday, a Friday this year, in an effort to discourage vacationing somewhat. 

In 2022, the state intends to continue its robust spending on the areas most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic: health and social assistance.

The approval of the Zifivax jab is set to add further momentum to the country's vaccine rollout, but serious obstacles remain

But Southeast Asia's largest country is not quite out of the woods yet.

The Indonesian government needs to jettison its hopes of a miracle cure to COVID-19, and listen to the advice of epidemiologists and health experts.

In recent weeks, the region has seen more than twice as many deaths from the coronavirus than North America.

President Joko Widodo said that the development of infrastructure and "quality human capital" will remain priorities for the remainder of his second term.

Just as cases are beginning to ease in densely populated Java and Bali, they are rising elsewhere.

The pandemic has highlighted deep-rooted problems in health service. Medical workers voicing out their concerns have put governments on the defensive.

Will mounting evidence about the limited efficacy of Chinese-made vaccines spell the end for Beijing's vaccine diplomacy?