According to data, Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, has reported the second-highest number of daily deaths from Covid-19, trailing only Brazil. On Sunday, Indonesia reported 1093 deaths and 44,721 Covid-19 cases, the lowest number in nearly a week but the highest in Asia. On Saturday, 1092 people died in Indonesia, while 868 people died in Brazil as a result of Covid-19.
Indonesia has been dubbed the new epicentre of the pandemic by health officials, and data from a Reuters tracker shows it has reported more new Covid-19 cases than any other country in recent days. In total, Indonesia has reported over 2.8 million cases and 73,582 deaths.
The Indonesian government imposed strict restrictions on the spread of the coronavirus on July 3 and is debating whether to extend the restrictions, which are set to expire on Tuesday.
Increasing Covid-19 cases have overburdened hospitals and depleted the country’s oxygen supply, despite the government’s efforts to add beds and import oxygen tanks. At least 650 people have died at home while self-isolating due to a lack of hospital beds, according to crowdsourcing platform LaporCovid19.
Deaths of doctors
Covid-19 has claimed the lives of an increasing number of doctors as the Delta variant of the coronavirus has fueled a surge in infections across Indonesia. The number increased dramatically in the first half of July, according to a doctors’ association.
According to Reuters, officials from Indonesia’s doctors’ association (IDI) said that 114 doctors died from Covid-19 between July 1 and July 17, the highest number reported for any period of similar length and more than 20% of the 545 total doctor deaths since the pandemic began.
“We are worried about the potential of a functional collapse. This is the reported data, not yet data that may not have been reported to us,” Mahesa Paranadipa, a senior IDI official, said and added that the association was concerned that the medical system may not be able to cope.
