Indonesia has become the new COVID epidemic center in Asia. The number of daily COVID-19 active cases in Indonesia on this month was higher than in India and exceed Brazil in daily mortality rate. There were 1,338 COVID-19 deaths in Indonesia last Monday. Currently, the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Indonesia exceeds 73,000.
The daily death toll has now risen to 10 times the number seen in early June. The death toll is expected to rise to 2,300 daily by late July or early August. There were 54,517 new cases and 991 deaths in the country in the last 24 hours on Thursday.
The main reason for this increase in patients is the prevalence of the Delta variant. Epidemiology unit reports that domestic tests are not enough to detect and isolate infected people. In Java, a densely populated island in Indonesia, have been found to infect young people due to non restricted travel limitations and then spread it to vulnerable people, including adults. Despite reducing the number of new infections reported in central Java, many of the city’s health workers are reported to be infected.
On July 3, it was partially lock down in Jakarta and Java as well as the tourist island of Bali, by authority. All employees in non-essential industries must work from home, and half of the employees in industries that are considered essential, including finance, can come and work in the office.
Indonesia’s healthcare system is also in a state of disarray. About 434 Indonesian doctors are currently dying of Covid-19. In February, 184 doctors in the country died of Covid-19, and at least 20 of them were vaccinated with the Cinovac vaccine, according to the Indonesian Medical Association’s Risk Reduction Team. They point out that about 1,311 health workers have died from Covid-19 since March last year. This includes doctors, nurses, midwives, medical laboratory workers and pharmacists.
In Indonesia, despite the prevalence of vaccination, health workers have been hit hard by the growing number of patients. To cope with the increase in the number of patients, the government is building emergency hospitals and ordering more oxygen. But amid the lack of oxygen, dozens of corona virus patients are dying in Indonesian hospitals. Many hospitals are overcrowded and the country’s health care system is collapsing due to inability of accept patients no longer. If hospitals fail to reduce the number of patients by at least 20%, they will no longer be able to afford it,” said the Indonesian health minister.
The Indonesian government has relied heavily on vaccines to control the virus, but those who have been vaccinated also die from the disease. Only 5% or 15 million of Indonesians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Indonesia is working hard to get the vaccine needed to reach the target of vaccinating more than 181 million people. Country receives more than 3 million quantity of Moderna vaccine from the United States this month and health workers will be given priority in vaccination programme.
The Indonesian Medical Association’s Risk Reduction Team points out that vaccination is only an extra protection and that the most important thing is to follow health advice.