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AstraZeneca says its Covid-19 vaccine has no pork products

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JAKARTA AstraZeneca said yesterday its Covid-19 vaccine contains no pork-derived ingredients, countering an assertion in Indonesia that the drug violates Islamic law.

Indonesia's highest Muslim clerical council, the Indonesia Ulema Council, said on its website on Friday that the vaccine is "haram" because the manufacturing process uses "trypsin from the pork pancreas".

Still, the council approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use given the pandemic emergency.

But AstraZeneca Indonesia spokesman Rizman Abudaeri said in a statement: "At all stages of the production process, this virus vector vaccine does not use nor come in contact with pork-derived products or other animal products."

Indonesia is grappling with one of the worst outbreaks in Asia, with 1,455,788 cases and 39,447 deaths as of Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian province closest to Singapore, the Riau Islands, including Batam and Bintan, is ready to reopen to tourists from neighbouring countries as infections have declined and stabilised, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno said.

The plan is to start reopening tourist spots in Nongsa (Batam) and Lagoi (Bintan) on April 21, ahead of the country's main tourist spot Bali, which is expected to reopen in June or July, the minister said after a meeting with Batam officials on Saturday.

"Batam and Bintan are far more ready," he said.

Reopening the Riau Islands would pave the way for Indonesia to have a possible "safe travel corridor" with Singapore, Mr Uno stressed.

"The Covid-19 infection numbers in Riau Islands province have flattened and stabilised, and in the two tourism spots Nongsa and Lagoi, there has not been any new infections," Mr Uno said.

Any foreign tourist entering Indonesia through the province would have to show a negative polymerase chain reaction test result and will be screened upon arrival using GeNose, a Covid-19 breath test system.

Information technology will also be used to track the movements of tourists.

The Indonesian government has ramped up vaccination in Batam and Bintan, targeting 30,000 tourism workers to be inoculated by April. - REUTERS, THE STRAITS TIMES

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