Corona crisis in Indonesia: Bali and Java go into partial lockdown

The delta variant is spreading further in Indonesia. In Jakarta, on the main island of Java and on Bali, there is now a partial lockdown again. In the island nation, only five percent of people are still vaccinated.

There are almost no cars on the main roads in Jakarta. Few people sit in the subway. The hospitals are all the more crowded for it. The 28-year-old doctor Cheras Sjarfi stands in protective clothing on the bed of a patient who is being supplied with oxygen.

“A small hospital like ours shouldn’t treat Covid-19 patients. When the big hospitals can no longer accept patients and people come to us, the severity of this pandemic will become clear to me,” she says. “Then we are at the peak. We are not prepared for this situation here.” You have neither ventilators nor an intensive care unit, she tells the Reuters news agency. “In the worst case scenario, they’ll die here.”

Sick people die because there are no beds

In one of the larger hospitals in Jakarta, patients lie close together in the corridors. The 43-year-old nurse Nurlaela talks about the situation on Thai television. “Many were dead when they arrived because we had no beds. Patients had to wait until there was a vacant bed before they could be admitted.”

In Jakarta, the government has converted some offices into makeshift isolation centers, reports the state news agency Antara.

Those who can afford it get themselves oxygen, like 51-year-old Tafik Hidayat. “We took our son to the hospital and waited two hours to get to the intensive care unit. But the hospital told us to treat him at home first.”

Problems with oxygen supplies

The prices of oxygen and drugs like remdesivir have risen sharply due to demand. The Ministry of Health has therefore set a price ceiling. In addition, Indonesia has instructed oxygen producers to increase the production of medical oxygen. Previously, more than 60 people had died in Sardjito Hospital on the island of Java because the gas supply was almost exhausted.

Lockdown could expand

The epidemiologist Defriman Djafri considers the partial lockdown to be inadequate in view of the high numbers of infections and the spread of the Delta variant: “I think the lockdown should not only be limited to Java and Bali, but should also include other regions. They should be alarmed be by the record highs on Java. ”

For him, it’s only a matter of time before the numbers go up in other parts of the country. People could still travel too easily.

President Joko Widodo appeals to the citizens. “I call on all of you to remain calm and vigilant, follow health protocols and be disciplined.”

In Java and Bali, 21,000 officials monitor compliance with the rules. More than 400 roadblocks were erected. In Bali, for example, officials stop cars and mopeds and make announcements that nobody is allowed to enter the beach. Bali should open to tourists again this month. These plans have been postponed for the time being.

The government has so far been reluctant to lockdowns because it did not want to harm the economy. The country also has a large informal sector, says Jan Gelfand, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Indonesia. “If people can no longer work on the street, they may not have the money to feed their families in the evening. And if people don’t eat enough, then they are more prone to get sick. And then one develops A completely different health problem, in which case the consequences could be even worse.

For him, the top priority is that all countries get enough vaccine. “I think we have now learned: as long as not everyone is safe, nobody is safe.”

USA and Australia want to donate vaccine

Australia and the USA, among others, have announced aid. The United States plans to deliver four million doses of the Moderna vaccine through the Covax international vaccination program.

So far, only around five percent of people in Indonesia have been vaccinated. The government set a goal this month to vaccinate one million people a day. In total, the country has more than 270 million inhabitants. Muhammad Enggar, who is currently getting vaccinated in his school, hopes that in this way normal life will return. “There are some countries that have recovered. I hope Indonesia can do it as soon as possible,” he says.

The doctor from the small hospital, which has no intensive care unit, is worried despite the vaccination: “The last time I did the rapid test, I was afraid of having Covid-19 again. I’m afraid because the current variant is very communicable. I worry about infecting other people. And I’ve heard that many medical workers recently collapsed after becoming infected. ”

So far, most people in Indonesia have been vaccinated with the Chinese vaccine Sinovac. It is suspected of being less effective than the mRNA vaccines.