Indonesia prepares to respond to worsening COVID-19 outbreak Reuters

Authors: Gayatri Suroyo and Stanley Widianto

(Reuters)-A senior minister said on Thursday that Indonesia is preparing to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak that has gotten worse after the number of cases has climbed close to the vertical, and warned that due to the more viral delta variant, the speed of infection is spread Faster than expected.

Even with the strictest mobility restrictions to date, the world’s fourth most populous country is still working to slow the spread of the virus.

The total number of cases on Wednesday exceeded 54,000, the latest of many peaks in the past month, and more than ten times the number of infections in early June.

At a streaming press conference, Senior Minister Luhut Pandjaitan stated that the daily COVID-19 cases are still likely to climb because the Delta variant first discovered in India has an incubation period of two to three weeks.

“We are already in the worst-case scenario,” Luhut said.

“If we are talking about 60,000 (daily cases) or a little more, we are fine. We hope it is not 100,000, but even if we get there, we are preparing for it,” he added.

He said that the government has transformed several buildings into isolation facilities, deployed fresh graduate doctors and nurses to treat COVID-19 patients and import therapeutic drugs and oxygen.

In recent weeks, the hospital on Java, the most populous island in Indonesia, has been flooded. Many people have difficulty receiving treatment. Hundreds of people have died during self-isolation.

Cases and bed occupancy rates have also increased in parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan, as well as in more remote areas such as West Papua, where sanitation facilities are insufficient to deal with the outbreak.

Luhut also stated that the vaccine is less effective against the Delta variant that causes most infections on the island of Java, but urges people to get vaccinated to help prevent serious illness and death.

He said that the government is analysing the situation and will decide whether to extend the emergency coronavirus restrictions that are currently due to expire on July 20.

In a separate statement, the country’s COVID-19 working group stated that despite the restrictions on movement, compliance with health procedures is very low.