Indonesia sees highest daily toll as Covid-19 caseload tops 3 million
Published: 04:07 PM,Jul 22,2021 | EDITED : 08:07 PM,Jul 22,2021
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JAKARTA: Indonesia recorded more than 1,449 deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday, its worst single-day death toll, as the country's coronavirus caseload passed 3 million.
The country reported 49,509 coronavirus cases overnight, taking the total number of confirmed infections to over 3 million, according to the Health Ministry.
The overall virus-related death toll stands at 79,032.
Indonesia's daily death toll has been consistently above 1,000 since July 16.
'This cannot continue,' said Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the government's Covid-19 task force.
'They're not just statistics. These are our friends, relatives, colleagues, and our loved ones,' he told a news conference.
More than 2,300 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died while self-isolating at home since last month, half of them in Jakarta, as hospitals were forced to turn away patients, according to LaporCovid-19, a volunteer group that gathers pandemic data.
'The actual number is of course higher as we have not received reports from more provinces,' said Fariz Hibban, data analyst atLaporCovid-19.
'We're worried that this is the tip of the iceberg and something that should be immediately addressed to prevent more deaths,' he said.
Indonesia has struggled to contain an explosion of Covid-19 cases which has overwhelmed hospitals across the islands of Java and Bali in recent weeks.
Officials have blamed the surge on the highly virulent Delta variant.
On Tuesday, the government extended a partial lockdown, which was first imposed earlier this month, until July 25.
The World Health Organization (WHO) urged Indonesia to impose tighter restrictions.
'Considering that some VOCs (variants of concern) have much higher transmissibility, timely adjustments ... are very important during a surge, including the use of stringent measures such as movement restrictions as quickly as possible,' the WHO said in a situation report.
So far, over 43 million Indonesians have been vaccinated, mostly using the vaccine developed by China's Sinovac, but only 16.9 million have received a second dose.
The South-East Asian archipelago has a population of 270 million. - dpa
The country reported 49,509 coronavirus cases overnight, taking the total number of confirmed infections to over 3 million, according to the Health Ministry.
The overall virus-related death toll stands at 79,032.
Indonesia's daily death toll has been consistently above 1,000 since July 16.
'This cannot continue,' said Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the government's Covid-19 task force.
'They're not just statistics. These are our friends, relatives, colleagues, and our loved ones,' he told a news conference.
More than 2,300 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died while self-isolating at home since last month, half of them in Jakarta, as hospitals were forced to turn away patients, according to LaporCovid-19, a volunteer group that gathers pandemic data.
'The actual number is of course higher as we have not received reports from more provinces,' said Fariz Hibban, data analyst atLaporCovid-19.
'We're worried that this is the tip of the iceberg and something that should be immediately addressed to prevent more deaths,' he said.
Indonesia has struggled to contain an explosion of Covid-19 cases which has overwhelmed hospitals across the islands of Java and Bali in recent weeks.
Officials have blamed the surge on the highly virulent Delta variant.
On Tuesday, the government extended a partial lockdown, which was first imposed earlier this month, until July 25.
The World Health Organization (WHO) urged Indonesia to impose tighter restrictions.
'Considering that some VOCs (variants of concern) have much higher transmissibility, timely adjustments ... are very important during a surge, including the use of stringent measures such as movement restrictions as quickly as possible,' the WHO said in a situation report.
So far, over 43 million Indonesians have been vaccinated, mostly using the vaccine developed by China's Sinovac, but only 16.9 million have received a second dose.
The South-East Asian archipelago has a population of 270 million. - dpa