Indonesia overtakes India in number of coronavirus cases and positions itself as the new epicenter of the pandemic

The increase in cases of Covid-19 reported in Indonesia positions it as the new epicenter of the pandemic at Asia. With the Delta variant as the main driving force, this country has overtaken India the number of infections reported in 24 hours this week. Even the Indonesian Physicians Association (IDI) warned of the deaths of 114 specialists, between July 1 and July 17, the highest figure reported in a similar period.

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With 44,721 infections and 1,093 deaths from the coronavirus reported this Sunday, the numbers do not appear to be decreasing in Indonesia and even some specialists anticipated that the pandemic could get even worse. There is a collapse of the health system budding and start to rare critical inputs in different jurisdictions of the country.

According to local media, more and more people are sleeping in hallways or waiting on the street for a place to seek treatment. Some have even decided to move into their homes and see how to acquire oxygen cylinders to try and fight Covid-19 in their own beds.

Despite this reality, the president Joko Widodo rejected the national quarantine order, but imposed restrictive measures on the island of Bali and the island of Java, in addition to 15 other cities, where the Community circulation of the Delta variant. In this way, the Indonesian president has decided to reduce the capacity of public transport, that restaurants only work with the “take out” mode and close schools and places of worship, clubs and shopping malls until this Tuesday, although there are already versions that could be extended.

This Thursday, Indonesia reached the highest number of infections since the start of the pandemic in this territory, with nearly 57,000 new positives; While on Friday the peak was in the number of deaths, with 1,205 deaths.

Luhut Pandjaitan, Minister responsible for pandemic management in Indonesia, he assured that “in a pessimistic scenario, with 60,000 daily cases or a little more, one would be rather good”, and specified: “We hope not to reach 100,000 cases per day, but we always prepare ourselves in case we have to undergo it ”.

In addition to the increase in cases, there is an even more worrying addition: the Indonesian Physicians Association alerted to the increased deaths among specialists. As they pointed out in a virtual press conference, there is a 10% of health workers who are isolated. “We are concerned about the potential for functional collapse,” warned IDI member Mahesa Paranadipa.

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So far, since the pandemic landed in Indonesia, 545 deaths due to Covid-19 have been recorded among doctors, however Between July 1 and July 17 114, number representing more than 20% of total deaths. Faced with this situation, some specialists have microscopic the Sinovac vaccine, which was used in 95% of inoculations to health personnel, for which they would analyze the addition of a booster with the vaccination of Moderna, which had been sent. by Joe Biden as a donation.

It should be noted that, out of the 270 million inhabitants of Indonesia, only the 15% received at least dose of vaccine against Covid-19, as that number drops to 6% if the full diagram of inoculation.