Indonesia reports more than 3000 coronavirus cases in a day for the first time
Indonesia has reported 3,003 coronavirus infections, a single-day record for Australia’s near-neighbour.
COVID-19 infection rates have been steadily rising, day-on-day for months in Indonesia as the national government implemented a limited lock down which was quickly wound back.
The total number of cases in Indonesia has now risen to 165,887 infections and the total number of suspected cases has now hit 77,857 people.
Virus awareness billboards in Jakarta feature President Joko Widodo. Although not the hardest hit, Indonesia is still struggling to contain the spread.Credit:AP
The death toll, which is the highest in south-east Asia by a considerable distance, is now 7,169 people after rising by another 105 people on Friday and suggests the total number of cases in the country could be significantly higher.
The national COVID-19 taskforce reported just 16,649 people had been tested on Thursday.
The capital city of Jakarta, led by Governor Anies Baswedan and home to about 10 million people excluding satellite cities, is the only province that has met the World Health Organisation’s minimum standard of one test per 1000 people.
It reported 869 new cases on Friday, the highest in the country, and has reported 37,082 cases in total, which is also the highest in the country.
According to the Worldometer website, which tracks cases, testing and deaths from the coronavirus in every country, Indonesia ranks 162nd in the world for tests per 1 million people. It has conducted 7,798 tests per 1 million people.
Australia has tested 236,875 people per 1 million people and the states of NSW and Victoria, home to 7.5 million people and 6.3 million people respectively, are both conducting more tests on a daily basis than Indonesia, which is home to 270 million people.
Other near neighbours to Indonesia such as Thailand (10,729 tests per million), Malaysia (37,397 per million), Singapore (312,897 per million) and the Philippines (22,215 tests per million) also far exceed Indonesia’s testing rates.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age recently reported that two of Indonesia’s leading epidemiologists believe the total number of cases in Indonesia may have already passed one million people.
Dr Pandu Riono, a University of Indonesia epidemiologist and Dr Dicky Budiman, who has 20 years experience tackling pandemics including SARS and HIV and has worked for the ASEAN secretariat and the World Health Organisation, both suggested the true number of cases was more than one million people – a figure that would place Indonesia in the global top five for total number of cases.
The Indonesian government responded by attacking the report as “speculation” that relied “heavily on hearsay and baseless assumptions”.
"While the Author speculates on the possibility of one million asymptomatic carriers in Indonesia, is he suggesting that they be isolated, in a form of containment or concentration camp? Or is the purpose of the article to highlight the danger for Australians living next to their Indonesian neighbour?"
Professor Wiku Adisasmito, the chair of the National Taskforce for the Acceleration of COVID-19 Mitigation in Indonesia, admitted earlier this week that "for Indonesia's population of 260 million people, the target is 267,700 tests per week. Indonesia can only achieve 35.6 per cent of the World Health Organisation standard".
Most Viewed in World
Source: Read Full Article