Hospitals in the Indonesian capital are under strain as surging case numbers of the variant Delta strain test oxygen supplies and place extra pressure on understaffed facilities.
In Jakarta’s largest hospital, 63 people died after the hospital’s oxygen supply ran out.
392 were buried in Jakarta over the weekend, a tenfold increase from early May, when restrictions were put in place to help curb the spread of the disease.
In Yogjakarta, Java’s second largest city, another 33 from one hospital people died due to supplier delays of oxygen.
A total of 555 deaths were recorded across Indonesia last Sunday, the highest daily death toll recorded since the start of the pandemic.
The total death toll now stands at more than 60,000.
The alarming increase in deaths is prompting some to fear that Indonesia is on the verge of a Covd catastrophe.
As well as distribution issues, the price of medical oxygen has more than doubled in recent months.
The government has asked major producers to increase the availabilty of medical oxygen to cope with the extra demand.
The government is also preparing to convert a sporting stadium in Jakarta into a 5,000 bed hospital and is calling on newly trained doctors and nurses to help staff the facility.