Sungailiat, Bangka (ANTARA) - Some 936 teachers in Bangka District, Bangka Belitung Islands Province, have received their first shots of COVID-19 vaccine as the government pushes the school reopening across Indonesia in July this year.

The first-dose recipients are part of 1,200 teachers the provincial government has targeted to get vaccinated, the province's COVID-19 Task Force spokesperson, Boy Yandra, said here Sunday.

The teachers who have received the first jab of a COVID-19 vaccine comprise those from early childhood education schools, elementary schools, and junior high schools, he said.

The vaccination program would be continued on Monday (April 12). For the teachers who failed to get inoculated along with the 936 teachers, they could join the vaccination program along with some 500 senior high school teachers on Monday, he said.

As of Sunday, Bangka District has had 2,454 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of the number, 2,312 patients had fully recovered while 34 others succumbed to the coronavirus.

The task force revealed that majority of the confirmed COVID-19 cases were found in Sungailiat Sub-district while the lowest infection rate was recorded in Bakam Sub-district.

Indonesia remains in grip of the global pandemic of COVID-19 that has severely hit its economy but the government is striving to win the fight against it through a national vaccination program.

According to the Health Ministry, it will take about 15 months to vaccinate about 181.5 million people under the national program.

"We need 15 months to accomplish it. The time-frame for conducting the vaccination is counted from January, 2021 to March, 2022," Health Ministry's spokesperson for the vaccination program, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, stated recently.

During the period, the government is targeting to inoculate about 181.5 million people, including 1.3 million paramedics and 17.4 million public sector workers in 34 provinces, she informed.

Tarmizi noted that the first phase of the government's immunization program has been divided into two periods: January-April, 2021 and April, 2021-March, 2022.

This coronavirus pandemic has severely hit the country’s economy. In reviving the tourism sector, for instance, the Indonesian government has planned a travel bubble.

In the first stage of its implementation, the travel bubble between Indonesia and Singapore will initially run between Singapore and Bintan, Riau Islands.

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Translator: Kasmono, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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