JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Indonesia’s confirmed coronavirus infections since the pandemic began crossed the million on Tuesday and hospitals in some heavily affected areas were about to run out of capacity.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Health announced that new daily infections rose by 13,094 on Tuesday to bring the country’s total to 1,012,350, most of Southeast Asia. The total number of deaths reached 28,468.
The milestone comes just weeks after Indonesia launched a massive campaign to inoculate two-thirds of the country’s 270 million people, and President Joko Widodo received the first shot of a vaccine made in China. Health workers, the military, police, teachers and other populations at risk are being prioritized for the vaccine in the fourth most populous country in the world.
Officials have said Indonesia will require nearly 427 million doses, given the estimate that 15% of doses could be wasted during the nationwide distribution process of more than 17,000 islands, where transport and infrastructure they are limited in some places.
Jakarta remains the hardest hit city in Indonesia, confirming more than 254,000 cases as of Tuesday, including 4,077 deaths. Only 8.5% of a total of 8,066 hospital beds in the city were left for new patients as of Tuesday, while beds were filled with ventilators.
Other provinces on the country’s most densely populated island in Java, such as West Java, East Java and Yogyakarta, have also experienced high bed occupancy rates, up to 95%, in recent weeks. Even in Banten’s neighboring province of Jakarta, the occupancy rate reached 100% last week.
Data from the Ministry of Health showed that hospital capacity across the country was approximately 70%.
Abdul Kadir, the ministry’s director general of health services, described the situation as “serious”.
The government has issued a circular urging private hospital owners across the country to allocate up to 40% of beds for patients with COVID-19, Kadir said.
Health experts have warned that adding hospital beds is just a quick fix that will end up faltering if the number of daily cases continues to rise.
Health policy expert Masdalina Pane of the Indonesian Epidemiologists Association said the government should step up testing and screening efforts, as well as strengthen health protocols and ensure public compliance.
He said high positivity rates are a sign of insufficient evidence and widespread transmission of the virus, and that efforts to force asymptomatic people to quarantine at home would help curb the spread of the virus.
The number of coronavirus-related cases and deaths has risen sharply since early December, prompting seven regional governments in the islands of Java and Bali to re-impose restrictions on public activity.
The virus has killed more than 11,000 people in Indonesia since December 1, accounting for 40% of the total number of victims since the outbreak began in early March.
“The time has come to mourn as many of our brothers and sisters have died, including more than 600 health workers, while dealing with a pandemic,” Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said in a speech on Tuesday. televised.
He promised that his ministry will continue to proactively implement measures to curb the spread of the virus and urged people to follow disciplined health guidelines to reduce the burden on the country’s health system.
“This figure of one million indicates that all Indonesians must work together with the government to fight the pandemic even further,” Gunadi said.