July 20 – Indonesia New “Covid Epicentre” of South East Asia
Indonesia is being dubbed “the new epicentre” of the coronavirus crisis in South East Asia, averaging more than 50,000 new cases per day over the past week – a ten fold increase on confirmed cases being reported in early June – and a reported death toll of 1,338 citizens yesterday, the second highest number of deaths in the world after Brazil.
Almost three million people in Indonesia have now been recorded as confirmed cases, although that number could be vastly understated. A recent survey found that almost half Jakarta’s population of 10 million people have or could have already had coronavirus.
At this stage less than six per cent of the population have been vaccinated and most have been vaccinated with Chinese produced Sinovac, which is proving to be less effective than other vaccines against the highly infectious Delta strain.
Although 95 percent of front line health workers have been vaccinated many of those are still falling ill and dying, with 545 doctors now dead as a result of the virus, 117 of which have passed since the start of July.
The government introduced tough restrictions last week to curb the spread of the virus, including stay at home orders as well as closures of offices restaurants, schools and places of worship.
It is widely expected that these measures will now be extended beyond the original July 20 end date