Indonesia sharply cuts RT-PCR test prices amid call from public

]

Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-22 13:46:34|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

by Bambang Purwanto

JAKARTA, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo has ordered to cut the test prices of the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) to a range between 450,000 rupiahs (some 31.24 U.S. dollars) and 550,000 rupiahs from the previous maximum of 900,000 rupiahs set by the Health Ministry.

The move means that the prices of the RT-PCR tests in Indonesia will be cut between 38.9 percent and 50 percent over the previous ones.

“One way to increase testing is to reduce the RT-PCR test prices. I have told the health minister about this and I asked for the cost of the PCR tests to be in the range between 450,000 rupiahs and 550,000 rupiahs,” said the president in a video uploaded to the account of the Indonesian Secretariat Cabinet on Aug. 15.

Widodo also ordered that the results of the RT-PCR tests in Indonesia should be available within 24 hours as the country needs speedy outcomes.

The Indonesian government has set the highest price for the RT-PCR tests at 495,000 rupiahs for the islands of Java and Bali, and 525,000 rupiahs for the areas outside the two islands.

The government decided to cut the RT-PCR test prices following debates about the prices of the COVID-19 tests in the country, which were considered too expensive.

The Directorate General of Health Services has issued a regulation concerning the prices for RT-PCR tests which have been effective from Aug. 17.

Director General of Health Services Abdul Kadir said the new prices of the RT-PCR tests were set together with the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency.

“From the evaluation results, we agree that the highest price for RT-PCR examinations is lowered to 495,000 rupiahs for Java and Bali islands, and 525,000 rupiahs for outside Java and Bali islands,” he said at a virtual press conference in Jakarta on Aug. 16.

State-owned pharmaceutical company PT Kimia Farma has decided to reduce the prices of RT-PCR and Antigen tests to meet the regulation.

Currently, the company’s most expensive COVID-19 testing price is 495,000 rupiahs for RT-PCR and 125,000 rupiahs for antigen.

“This will make it easier for the public to have COVID-19 tests, which will lead to an overall improvement in Indonesia’s health climate,” the company’s President Director Verdi Budidarmo said.

Agus Chandra, acting president director of PT Kimia Farma Diagnostika (PT Kimia Farma’s business unit) said his company would follow the president’s instruction to lower the prices of the RT-PCR tests as much as possible.

“In addition to lowering the price of the RT-PCR test to 495,000 rupiahs, we also reduced the price of antigen swab to 85,000 rupiahs for the regular type of device and for the Abbot Panbio brand it falls to 125,000 rupiahs,” he said.

However, several health facilities including hospitals in the country have yet to follow the president’s instruction to lower the prices of the RT-PCR tests to detect COVID-19.

House Speaker Puan Maharani on Friday asked all health facilities including hospitals to follow the rules set by the government as this decision is part of the government efforts to strengthen test for COVID-19.

“All health facilities, including hospitals, clinics, and laboratories, must comply with these rules,” Maharani said, calling on the government to give warnings or sanctions to those health facilities defying the rules. Enditem

Texas takes its ban on school mask mandates to the state Supreme Court.

]

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

Children are particularly likely to die from Covid in Indonesia. One big reason is poverty. A couple grieving for their daughter in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, last month. The 22-month-old died of Covid-19. Credit… Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times Wealthy countries have gotten used to the idea that children are extremely rare pandemic victims. In the United States and Europe, people under 18 have accounted for about one of every 1,500 reported Covid-19 deaths. But the toll in less developed countries tells a different story. Across Indonesia, for instance, children have fallen victim to the coronavirus in alarming numbers, with a striking increase since June, when the more contagious Delta variant of the virus began taking hold. Researchers point to many reasons children would be more likely to die in developing countries, but many of those factors boil down to a single one: poverty. The pandemic has killed at least 1,245 Indonesian children and the biggest recent jump has been among those under age 1, said Dr. Aman Bhakti Pulungan, head of the Indonesian Pediatric Society. The true rate is impossible to discern, because testing is limited and many Covid-19 deaths have gone uncounted. Still, the pediatric society’s figures suggest that about one of every 88 officially counted deaths in the country has been that of a child. Dera Menra Sijabat , Richard C. Paddock and

The U.S. is preparing a plan to offer vaccine boosters as early as fall. A man waiting to receive his second shot of a vaccine. The first booster shots would most likely go to nursing home residents and health care workers. Credit… Christopher Occhicone for The New York Times With a stockpile of at least 100 million doses at the ready, Biden administration officials are developing a plan to start offering Covid-19 booster shots to some Americans as early as this fall, even as researchers continue to hotly debate whether extra shots are needed, according to people familiar with the effort. The first boosters are likely to go to nursing home residents and health care workers, followed by other older people who were near the front of the line when vaccinations began last year. Officials envision giving people the same vaccine they originally received. They have discussed starting the effort in October but have not settled on a timetable. While many outside experts argue there is no proof yet that the vaccines’ high level of protection against severe disease and hospitalization is waning in the United States, administration officials say they cannot afford to put off figuring out the logistics of providing boosters to millions of people. The spotty nature of the nation’s disease-reporting network makes the question of timing even trickier. The effort comes as the nation is gripped by a virus wave driven by the more contagious Delta variant. Hospitals in states like Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi are again swamped with patients, the vast majority of them unvaccinated. The administration is also carefully watching Israel, where some data suggests an uptick in severe disease among older adults who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine early in that nation’s campaign, according to people who have reviewed it. Some officials are concerned that even if a decline in protection merely results in mild or asymptomatic infections, those infected could still spread the virus and prolong the pandemic. Any booster policy decision is fraught, officials said, because the administration does not want to undermine public confidence in what have proved to be powerfully effective vaccines. Nor does it want to overvaccinate Americans when many other countries have yet to even begin vaccination campaigns in earnest, increasing the threat of dangerous new variants that could spread to the United States and evade the vaccines. Benjamin Mueller and Noah Weiland contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett contributed research. Read more

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

Australian state goes into lockdown as Sydney’s outbreak spreads. A coronavirus testing site in Dubbo, Australia, on Friday. Several virus cases have emerged in Dubbo, an agricultural area in the state of New South Wales. Credit… Belinda Soole/Getty Images With a stubborn Delta outbreak in Sydney, Australia, spreading in areas outside the city and in vulnerable Aboriginal communities, New South Wales officials announced a lockdown for the entire state on Saturday along with tightened restrictions for residents of Sydney, Australia’s largest city. The statewide stay-at-home orders, in effect for at least a week, reflect growing concern about virus clusters that appear to have been seeded from Sydney residents traveling outside the city in violation of a lockdown that began there seven weeks ago. Several cases have emerged in Dubbo, an agricultural area, along with a handful in Walgett, a small town about 400 miles from Sydney that has a large and largely unvaccinated Indigenous population. In all, New South Wales recorded 466 new local cases and four deaths on Saturday. Premier Gladys Berejiklian called the case numbers, which were the highest daily total since the pandemic began, an “extremely concerning situation” at a news conference Saturday morning. “The Delta strain is diabolical, and we have to accept and be real about that,” she said. Under the new rules for Sydney that were announced on Saturday, residents will need a permit to travel outside the city. Travel for exercise and essential shopping will be limited to five kilometers — about three miles — from home, and fines for violations that include lying to contact tracers have been increased to up to 5,000 Australian dollars ($3,685). Fines of 3,000 Australian dollars can now be delivered on the spot for breaching a rule that limits outdoor exercise to two people. In smaller centers of population, schools will be closed as of Monday, and for at least seven days only essential businesses will be allowed to operate. With Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, also in lockdown, more than half of Australia’s population of 25 million people is now required to stay at home as the country races toward vaccination for an escape. And the vaccination rate is increasing. At the current pace, 70 percent of Australia’s population over the age of 16 will have received at least the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by Sept. 25, with New South Wales on track to reach that milestone on Sept. 7. About 25 percent of adults are fully vaccinated nationwide and about 50 percent have received a single dose, according to the Australian government. Read more

Oregon and Hawaii, two highly vaccinated states, are seeing their highest case numbers of the pandemic. Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon, left, visited the Bly Fire Camp on the southern edge of the Bootleg Fire in Klamath County in late July. Credit… Arden Barnes/The Herald and News, via Associated Press Oregon will deploy at least 500 National Guard troops to help its hospitals deal with a flood of coronavirus patients, as the state faces its largest wave of infections in the pandemic, the state’s governor said on Friday. The governor, Kate Brown, said that hospitals were at risk of becoming overwhelmed, with 733 Oregonians hospitalized with severe cases of Covid-19, including 185 in intensive care. The surge comes despite Oregon’s relatively high rate of vaccination, a fact that Ms. Brown noted in a videotaped address. “I know this is not the summer many of us envisioned with over 2.5 million Oregonians vaccinated against Covid-19,” Ms. Brown said. “The harsh and frustrating reality is that the Delta variant has changed everything.” Ms. Brown said that up to 1,500 National Guard members could be deployed to help at hospitals around the state, and that she had reached out to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for further support and funding. The highly transmissible Delta variant of the virus has driven infections and hospitalizations to all-time highs in some Southern states, so much so that “pandemic of the unvaccinated” has become Biden administration shorthand for the latest wave. But it has also begun to hammer states with relatively high rates of vaccination, like Oregon and Hawaii. In recent days, those two states have recorded their highest number of cases since the start of the pandemic. The seven-day average of cases in Hawaii has been above 500 for nearly a week, about double the peak the state reached in August 2020. Oregon narrowly surpassed its highest previous average, reaching a seven-day average of 1,540 cases on Thursday, according to a New York Times database. Over the past two weeks, hospitalizations have risen nearly 130 percent in Oregon and 140 percent in Hawaii. This week Ms. Brown announced a statewide indoor mask mandate, which took effect on Friday. Under the new rules, everyone older than 5 needs to wear a mask in most indoor settings; children older than 2 will need to wear them on public transportation. Hawaii has had the country’s fewest reported cases per capita for most of the pandemic. But this week, Gov. David Ige imposed new social distancing and gathering restrictions. Before that, Mr. Ige announced that state and county employees would have to show proof of vaccination by Monday or be tested weekly. The vast majority of people hospitalized with Covid-19 in Hawaii had not been vaccinated, according to a message on Twitter from the state’s lieutenant governor on Tuesday. Also this week, the police in Honolulu arrested two travelers accused of using falsified vaccination cards to avoid the 10-day quarantine that otherwise would have been required when they entered the state. Officials said they had acted on a tip from the community. Although Hawaii has prosecuted travelers accused of violating quarantine rules, this is the first case involving falsified vaccination cards. The travelers in that case face up to $5,000 in fines and up to a year in prison. Subscriber-only Live Event What to Know About Kids and Covid-19 Join Dr. Anthony Fauci and Times journalists (who are parents themselves) for a vital Q&A session for parents, educators and students everywhere. Read more

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

Here is how the virus moves through unvaccinated and vaccinated groups. See How Vaccines Can Make the Difference in Delta Variant’s Impact In a Times simulation, we modeled Delta-driven Covid outbreaks in two communities, one with a high vaccination rate and another with a low rate. Their levels of serious illness and death were starkly different. As the Delta variant has grown to become dominant in the United States — now making up almost all new coronavirus cases — and as the average number of new cases has now stayed above 100,000 for a week, many are wondering how to recalibrate their understanding of the risk they face. One way of thinking about that risk — and about the strong protection vaccines still offer, especially against severe disease and death — is to imagine two groups of people who are demographically identical, but with very different vaccination rates. One group has about 20 percent vaccination, as in some of the least immunized U.S. counties; the other, perhaps a workplace that is strongly encouraging its employees to get the jab, is 95 percent vaccinated. In the highly immunized group, the vaccine protects most of the vaccinated against becoming infected with the Delta variant. But some breakthrough infections would be expected, most of them mild or asymptomatic. Infections among the vaccinated would outnumber those among the unvaccinated simply because there were many more vaccinated people to start with. In the recent Provincetown, Mass., outbreak, most of those infected were vaccinated — because the group had a high overall immunization rate. In the group in which few are vaccinated but all are exposed to the virus, most of the unvaccinated would become infected, and most of the vaccinated would not. But in this scenario, outcomes — from the number of people who experience symptoms at all to the number who would become seriously ill or die — look much worse.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

A federal judge rules that Biden’s latest ban on evictions can stay in place. Demonstrators protesting evictions in New York this week. Credit… Spencer Platt/Getty Images A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Biden administration’s latest moratorium on evictions in counties where the coronavirus is raging could remain in place for now, saying that she lacked the authority to block such an emergency public health policy. But the judge, Dabney L. Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, expressed doubts in her 13-page ruling about the legality of the policy. She said she believed “the government is unlikely to prevail” when the matter returns to the Supreme Court. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention imposed the ban on evictions on Aug. 3 in counties where Covid-19 is surging. The ban replaced an expired, nationwide moratorium first imposed last September to prevent a surge of people crowding into homeless shelters and relatives’ homes, spreading the virus. The new one is narrower because it applies only where transmission rates are high. Still, that category currently covers about 91 percent of counties in the United States. In May, Judge Friedrich had blocked the nationwide moratorium, but the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia Circuit overruled her, and the Supreme Court let that decision stand in June. On Friday, she ruled that the replacement policy was similar enough to the original one that the earlier appeals court ruling controlled the case — for now. “Absent the D.C. Circuit’s judgment,” she wrote, she would immediately block the government from enforcing the new evictions ban. “But the court’s hands are tied.” The Justice Department declined to comment. But in a statement, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said: “The administration believes that C.D.C.’s new moratorium is a proper use of its lawful authority to protect the public health.” The plaintiffs, led by the Alabama Association of Realtors, are expected to swiftly take the case back to the appeals court in an effort to speed its way to the Supreme Court, where five of the nine justices appear likely to agree with Judge Friedrich that the ban exceeds the government’s emergency powers under a broadly worded, but vague, 1944 public health law. Read more

Surgical Lasers Market and Ecosystem Analysis, Competitive Landscape (Lumenis, Cynosure, Alma Lasers, Abbott Laboratories, More)

]

The Global Surgical Lasers Market report provides information by Key Players, Geography, End users, Applications, Competitor analysis, Sales, Revenue, Price, Gross Margin, Market Share, Import-Export, Trends and Forecast.

Global Surgical Lasers Market Research Report provides the brief information about Market size, share, drivers, restraints, and so on. Moreover, this report includes the approximate study of different segments in terms of overall growth, development, opportunity, business strategies, procedures etc. for the forecast period of 2026. The report contains the fundamentals produced and advancements by different application Share and the latest trend gaining momentum in the market that increases awareness about Surgical Lasers market.

The Top players are

Lumenis

Cynosure

Alma Lasers

Abbott Laboratories

Boston Scientific Corporation

IPG Photonics Corporation

Spectranetics Corporation

Biolitec AG

Bison Medical

Fotona,.

The major types mentioned in the report are CO2 Lasers, Argon Lasers, Nd:YAG Lasers, Diode Lasers, Other Surgical Lasers, and the applications covered in the report are Ophthalmology, Dentistry, Dermatology, Cardiology, Gynecology, Urology, Oncology, Other Applications, Market segmentation, by regions:, North America (United States, Canada), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium), Asia Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam), Middle East & Africa (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Israel, Egypt, Nigeria), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru), Reasons to get this report:, In an insight outlook, this research report has dedicated to several quantities of analysis – industry research (global industry trends) and Surgical Lasers market share analysis of high players, along with company profiles, and which collectively include about the fundamental opinions regarding the market landscape, emerging and high-growth sections of Surgical Lasers market, high-growth regions, and market drivers, restraints, and also market chances., The analysis covers Surgical Lasers market and its advancements across different industry verticals as well as regions. It targets estimating the current market size and growth potential of the global Surgical Lasers Market across sections such as also application and representatives., Additionally, the analysis also has a comprehensive review of the crucial players on the Surgical Lasers market together side their company profiles, SWOT analysis, latest advancements, and business plans., The report provides insights on the following pointers:, 1. North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Latin America market size (sales, revenue and growth rate) of Surgical Lasers industry., 2. Global major manufacturers operating situation (sales, revenue, growth rate and gross margin) of Surgical Lasers industry., 3. Global major countries (United States, Canada, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Israel, Egypt, Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru) market size (sales, revenue and growth rate) of Surgical Lasers industry., 4. Different types and applications of Surgical Lasers industry, market share of each type and application by revenue., 5. Global market size (sales, revenue) forecast by regions and countries from 2020 to 2026 of Surgical Lasers industry., 6. Upstream raw materials and manufacturing equipment, downstream major consumers, industry chain analysis of Surgical Lasers industry., 7. Key drivers influencing market growth, opportunities, the challenges and the risks analysis of Surgical Lasers industry., 8. New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Surgical Lasers industry..

Complete Report on Surgical Lasers market spread across 196 pages and Top companies. Get SAMPLE at https://www.insidemarketreports.com/sample-request/13/877675/Surgical-Lasers

Surgical Lasers Market Report Highlights

Surgical Lasers Market 2021-2026 CAGR

Surgical Lasers market growth in the upcoming years

Surgical Lasers market size estimation and its contribution to the parent market

Growth Predictions of the Surgical Lasers market

Product Technology Trends and Innovation

Thorough information on the product portfolios of the top players in the Global Surgical Lasers Market

Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share and growth Rate of Surgical Lasers in these regions, from 2016 to 2026, covering

North America: United States, Canada, Mexico

United States, Canada, Mexico South America: Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Chile, Peru

Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Chile, Peru Europe: Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland

Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland Middle East and Africa: GCC, North Africa, South Africa

GCC, North Africa, South Africa Asia-Pacific [China, Southeast Asia, India, Japan, Korea, Western Asia

An Overview of the Impact of COVID-19 on this Market:

Effect of COVID-19: Surgical Lasers Market report investigate the effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on the Surgical Lasers industry. Since December 2019, the COVID-19 infection spread to practically 180+ nations around the world with the World Health Organization pronouncing it a general wellbeing crisis. The worldwide effects of the Covid infection 2020 (COVID-19) are now beginning to be felt, and will essentially influence the Surgical Lasers market in 2020 and 2021.

Notwithstanding, this also will pass. Rising help from governments and a few organizations can help in the battle against this exceptionally infectious illness. There are a few ventures that are battling and some are flourishing. Generally speaking, pretty much every area is expected to be affected by the pandemic.

We are taking persistent endeavours to assist your business with maintaining and develop during COVID-19 pandemics. In view of our experience and aptitude, we will offer you an effective examination of Covid flare-up across enterprises to assist you with setting up what’s to come.

Cautious assessment of the components molding the Surgical Lasers market size, share, and the development direction of the market;

Point by point examination of all the market portions

An intensive assessment of the provincial and serious elements of the market

Extensive evaluation of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Get the Impact of Covid-19 on Surgical Lasers Market at https://www.insidemarketreports.com/covid-19/13/877675/Surgical-Lasers

Major Points from the Table of Contents

Surgical Lasers Market Overview

Global Surgical Lasers Market Competition by Key Players

Global Surgical Lasers Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region)

Global Surgical Lasers Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region

Global Surgical Lasers Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

Global Surgical Lasers Market Analysis by Types

CO2 Lasers

Argon Lasers

Nd:YAG Lasers

Diode Lasers

Other Surgical Lasers

Global Surgical Lasers Market Analysis by Applications

Ophthalmology

Dentistry

Dermatology

Cardiology

Gynecology

Urology

Oncology

Other Applications

Market segmentation

by regions:

North America (United States

Canada)

Europe (Germany

France

Italy

Russia

Spain

Netherlands

Switzerland

Belgium)

Asia Pacific (China

Japan

Korea

India

Australia

Indonesia

Thailand

Philippines

Vietnam)

Middle East & Africa (Turkey

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

South Africa

Israel

Egypt

Nigeria)

Latin America (Brazil

Mexico

Argentina

Colombia

Chile

Peru)

Reasons to get this report:

In an insight outlook

this research report has dedicated to several quantities of analysis – industry research (global industry trends) and Surgical Lasers market share analysis of high players

along with company profiles

and which collectively include about the fundamental opinions regarding the market landscape

emerging and high-growth sections of Surgical Lasers market

high-growth regions

and market drivers

restraints

and also market chances.

The analysis covers Surgical Lasers market and its advancements across different industry verticals as well as regions. It targets estimating the current market size and growth potential of the global Surgical Lasers Market across sections such as also application and representatives.

Additionally

the analysis also has a comprehensive review of the crucial players on the Surgical Lasers market together side their company profiles

SWOT analysis

latest advancements

and business plans.

The report provides insights on the following pointers:

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

Latin America market size (sales

revenue and growth rate) of Surgical Lasers industry.

Global major manufacturers operating situation (sales

revenue

growth rate and gross margin) of Surgical Lasers industry.

Global major countries (United States

Canada

Germany

France

Italy

Russia

Spain

Netherlands

Switzerland

Belgium

China

Japan

Korea

India

Australia

Indonesia

Thailand

Philippines

Vietnam

Turkey

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

South Africa

Israel

Egypt

Nigeria

Brazil

Mexico

Argentina

Colombia

Chile

Peru) market size (sales

revenue and growth rate) of Surgical Lasers industry.

Different types and applications of Surgical Lasers industry

market share of each type and application by revenue.

Global market size (sales

revenue) forecast by regions and countries from 2020 to 2026 of Surgical Lasers industry.

Upstream raw materials and manufacturing equipment

downstream major consumers

industry chain analysis of Surgical Lasers industry.

Key drivers influencing market growth

opportunities

the challenges and the risks analysis of Surgical Lasers industry.

New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Surgical Lasers industry.

Global Surgical Lasers Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis

Surgical Lasers Manufacturing Cost Analysis

Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers

Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders

Market Effect Factors Analysis

Global Surgical Lasers Market Forecast

Research Findings and Conclusion

Appendix

Surgical Lasers Marker Report Customization

Global Surgical Lasers Market, report can be customized according to your business requirements as we recognize what our clients want, we have extended 15% customization at no additional cost to all our clients for any of our syndicated reports.

We conduct customization of the Research data on all key fronts – Regional, Segment, Competitive landscape level. For every report-purchase, we offer 50 analyst-hours of free customization.

In addition to customization of our reports, we also offer fully tailored research solutions to our clients in all industries we track.

About Inside Market Reports

Inside Market Reports provides the most comprehensive database of market intelligence reports. We provide quantified B2B research on 70,000 high growth emerging opportunities/threats which will impact 65% to 75% of Global Businesses, with 350+ Million easily actionable statistics with tables, figures and datasets (sales forecasts, market shares, production data).

For all your Research needs, reach out to us at:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +1-617-230-0741