Sorong, W Papua (ANTARA) - The West Papua administration donated 31 cows for Muslim communities across the province to be sacrificed on the Islamic holiday of Idul Adha (Day of Sacrifice) on Sunday.

West Papua Acting Governor Paulus Waterpauw handed over two of the 31 cows as well as the one President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) donated for Muslims in West Papua to to the Al Akbar Mosque manager, Abu Bakar Alhamid.

"The people of West Papua thank President Jokowi for his care," Waterpauw said, adding that the meat of cattle, slaughtered during the Idul Adha, would be distributed to eligible recipients.

Meanwhile, Abu Bakar Alhamid thanked President Jokowi and the West Papua provincial government for their annual donation of Qurban (sacrificial) animals.

According to Head of Veterinary and Agriculture Office-Sorong City Drh. Firdiana Krisnaningsih, all cows donated for Idul Adha in the city had been confirmed to be free from the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

Regarding the FMD outbreak in Indonesia, President Jokowi had issued his instructions for the handling of the FMD in livestock on June 24, 2022.

According to Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Board (BNPB)Lieutenant General Suharyanto, one of the President's instructions was related to lockdown policy that would be implemented in red zone areas in provinces where more than 50 percent of sub-districts had reported FMD infections.

There should be no movement of animals from one point to another to prevent an increase in red zone areas, he said at a coordination meeting on the handling of the FMD outbreak in June.

In helping the FMD-infected cattle get recovered, the Indonesian authorities have been intensifying vaccination.

To this end, ANTARA reported earlier that on July 3, 2022, a total of 94 thousand doses of the FMD vaccine had arrived at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

This FMD vaccine type Aftopor, under the third-phase delivery, was shipped from France. It would be distributed by the Agriculture Ministry to various regions in Indonesia in a bid to accelerate the handling of FMD.

On June 12, ten thousand doses had arrived in the first phase, while as many as three million doses on June 16 in the second phase.
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Translator: Ernes BK, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Suharto
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