JACARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Confirmed coronavirus infections in Indonesia since the start of the pandemic exceeded 1 million on Tuesday and hospitals in some hard-hit areas were almost full.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Health announced that new daily infections increased by 13,094 on Tuesday, bringing the country’s total to 1,012,350, mostly in Southeast Asia. The total number of deaths reached 28,468.
The milestone came just weeks after Indonesia launched a massive campaign to inoculate two-thirds of the country’s 270 million people, with President Joko Widodo receiving the first injection of a vaccine made in China. Health professionals, military, police, teachers and other populations at risk are being prioritized for the vaccine in the fourth most populous country in the world.
Officials said Indonesia would require almost 427 million doses, taking into account the estimate that 15% of doses could be wasted during the distribution process in the vast nation of more than 17,000 islands, where transportation and infrastructure 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. Of a total of 8,066 hospital beds in the city, only 8.5% were left for new patients as of Tuesday, while beds with ventilators were filled.
Other provinces on the country’s most densely populated Java island, such as West Java, East Java and Yogyakarta, have also seen high bed occupancy rates of up to 95% in recent weeks. Even in neighboring Jakarta, Banten province, occupancy rates reached 100% last week.
Ministry of Health data showed that hospital capacity across the country was around 70%.
Abdul Kadir, the ministry’s director of general health services, called the situation “dire”.
The government issued a circular urging private hospital owners across the country to allocate up to 40% of beds to patients with COVID-19, said Kadir.
Health experts have warned that adding hospital beds is just a quick fix that will eventually fail if the number of daily cases continues to increase.
Health policy expert Masdalina Pane of the Association of Epidemiologists in Indonesia said the government should instead expand testing and screening efforts, as well as strengthen health protocols and ensure public compliance.
She said the high rates of positivity are a sign of insufficient testing and widespread transmission of the virus, and efforts to force asymptomatic people to quarantine at home would help slow the spread of the virus.
The number of coronavirus-related cases and deaths has increased dramatically since the beginning of December, prompting seven regional governments on 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, representing 40% of the total number of victims since the outbreak began in early March.
“This is the time to regret that many of our brothers and sisters died, including more than 600 health professionals, while dealing with the pandemic,” said Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, said Tuesday in a televised speech. .
He pledged that his ministry will continue to proactively implement measures to curb the spread of the virus and urged people to observe health guidelines with discipline to reduce the burden on the country’s health system.
“This figure of 1 million gives an indication that all Indonesians must work together with the government to fight even more against the pandemic,” said Gunadi.