Jakarta (AFP)
Indonesia passed the milestone of two million coronavirus cases on Monday as the Southeast Asian country sees a new wave of contaminations accelerate and hospitals are close to saturation, raising fears of an uncontrollable outbreak of the disease. 'epidemic.
The number of new daily cases has doubled in recent weeks in the archipelago where the presence of the Delta variant which appeared in India has been confirmed.
The country recorded 14,536 cases of Covid-19 on Monday, a new record compared to the previous high at the end of January.
In total, Indonesia has more than 2 million cases and nearly 55,000 deaths for nearly 270 million inhabitants.
These figures are considered grossly underestimated and some experts have calculated that the number of official cases is around 10% of the actual figures.
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"This is just the start. And depending on how things are run, we could have a major explosion like in India," noted Windhu Purnomo, an epidemiologist at Indonesian Airlangga University.
The new wave of contamination has been blamed on the millions of Indonesians who have traveled to the country to join their loved ones at the end of Ramadan, despite the ban on this great annual migration.
In the capital Jakarta and in the most affected areas, the occupancy rate of hospitals has exceeded 75%, while the number of burials is on the rise.
"It's worrying," said Rahmani, a Jakarta resident interviewed in a cemetery where he attended the funeral of a loved one who died of Covid-19.
"As good citizens we must follow the instructions of the government to respect health protocols," he notes.
But the authorities are still struggling to enforce the wearing of masks, distancing and convincing some of the reluctant Indonesians to be vaccinated.
The World Health Organization called on the Indonesian government to tighten health restrictions in its latest report dedicated to Indonesia last week.
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The capital encourages employees to work from home and has reduced the opening hours of shops but the authorities have not taken strict measures at the national level at this stage.
© 2021 AFP