PEKANBARU, Indonesia (Reuters) - An Indonesian city is bringing COVID-19 vaccines to its people with a growing fleet of inoculation buses, as the country faces a spike in infections after a major religious festival. Authorities in Pekanbaru on the island of Sumatra have doubled to 10 the number of buses in its vaccination programme, since launching it on June 1, following a favourable response from the public, who are happy with the convenience. Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 270 million people, is bracing for a peak in coronavirus infections after the Eid al-Fitr festival last month that saw millions travel to visit family and friends. I hope this programme will keep continuing until all the people in this town get fully vaccinated, said Delvi, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, after getting a vaccine shot on the bus. It is closer and easier than the vaccination centre. The government of Pekanbaru, capital of Riau province, says the buses have administered 12,000 do
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JAMBI (Reuters) - A pair of critically endangered orangutans, rescued from smugglers on the Thai-Malaysian border in 2017, have arrived in Indonesia to undergo rehabilitation so they can finally be released back into their native forest habitat.
Believed to be between the ages of four to six the orangutans, Ung Aing and Natalee, spent three years at Khao Pratab Chang Wildlife Breeding Center in central Ratchaburi province, Thailand.
On Friday they arrived in western Indonesia’s Jambi province for medical checks, which will include COVID-19 swabs, before a rehabilitation process to prepare them for their jungle home.
“We will do a medical checkup and study their behaviour and habits before sending them to a forest rehabilitation centre at the Danau Alo sanctuary,” head of local Natural Resources Coservation Agency (BKSDA), Rahmad Saleh told reporters, after the great apes were wheeled out in two metal cages at Jambi’s Sultan Thaha airport before media and offici