Reasons Indonesia Has Record Child Deaths from COVID-19 and Why It’s Not Happening in Other Countries

Indonesia in Southeast Asia has a tragic record: the world’s highest infant mortality rate from COVID-19. Although these data seem to call into question recent studies which indicate that the odds of dying from the novel coronavirus in children are 1 in 500,000, experts point out that in developing countries any type of infectious disease causes a number of deaths much higher than in developed countries, including minors. This is a consequence of the most precarious sanitary conditions in countries like Indonesia.

Although the data released by the Indonesian government is considered unreliable, the Pediatrician Association reported that during the month of July it recorded the death of more than 100 children per week due to COVID-19, many of them are under five, which means the highest infant mortality rate in the world from this disease.

Poor sanitary conditions promote the spread of infections, and the immune system of people, especially children, often has deficiencies that make them more permeable to various pathogens.

This was contrasted by the low number of infections in children that have occurred in developed countries like Europe, the United States or Israel. For example, in Italy 10 children died during the pandemic, all with serious underlying illnesses, which made them more vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19. Even specialists in this country have said that in some of these patients it was difficult to discern whether the death was caused by a worsening of the previous picture or by the coronavirus.

For example, to compare the case of Indonesia with a European country, the number of children hospitalized in Italy is very low and, in these few cases, having a positive swab was an almost completely “occasional” finding in relation to pathologies. which led to the hospitalization of these children.

Indonesia is experiencing the largest COVID-19 outbreak since the start of the pandemic and its government has come under heavy criticism for its unpredictability and lack of response to prevent the spread of infections.

The country, like the rest of Southeast Asia, is experiencing a very accelerated spread of infections as the Delta variant is prevalent in the region, while vaccination progresses slowly. This situation is shared by Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

This virus mutation has not been shown to cause more serious illness, but it has a high level of spread.

Indonesian pediatricians reported that 12.5% ​​of COVID-19 cases this month were in children, implying an increase from previous months, reported Aman Bhakti Pulungan, Executive Director of the Indonesian Pediatric Society, and added that In the week of July 12 alone, more than 150 children died from COVID-19, and more than half were under 5 years old.

Hospitals across the country are full and care has suffered, a situation that also affects children, especially those at risk. Indonesia has again set a record for deaths of all ages from the novel coronavirus, as it reported 2,064 in the past 24 hours today.

The particular affectation of Indonesian children thus appears to be a consequence not so much of a particular virus such as SARS-CoV-2 but of the precarious sanitary conditions of the country.

What doctors around the world have found since the start of the pandemic is that child hospitalizations were due to multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) which affected several children infected with the coronavirus with a negative four test. weeks later of infection. with COVID-19, who were often asymptomatic. They suffered from this syndrome which can cause damage to the heart, lungs and central nervous system. Some of them were in intensive care, but all have recovered and have recovered well over time. However, the amount of multisystem inflammatory syndrome decreased with the Alpha and Delta variants and there were fewer reports.

Scientists have said that children should be vaccinated not so much because of the personal risk they run with the contagion, but because they are a vector of infection for the weak people around them and also because the number behavioral disturbances, anxiety states and disorders in children has increased dramatically when they fall ill. Widespread vaccination would prevent further closures and bring them back to normal sociability.

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