Coronavirus in Southeast Asia: Fear of the worst is growing

The coronavirus is spreading rapidly again in Southeast Asia. So far only very few have vaccination protection – and so the governments are again resorting to severe restrictions.

It is the festival of sacrifice, Hari Raya Haji, one of the highest Islamic holidays – and again the believers in Southeast Asia cannot celebrate it together.

Malaysia stepped up corona measures before the festival to prevent the falls from skyrocketing again as they did after the sugar festival in May. Through travel and meeting, the virus has spread rapidly in the Southeast Asian country, with the numbers now exceeding 10,000 cases daily. Roadside checks are intended to prevent unauthorized journeys, the common meal after prayer is prohibited, as is family visits.

In Indonesia, the government has banned the big common prayers on the holiday, because this is where the virus is at its worst in Southeast Asia.

Voluntary burials

Volunteers in Bogor wrap themselves in protective clothing and drive to a house where a person died of Covid-19. They pray with the relatives, load the deceased into the car and then quickly and without any great ceremony, bury him in a mass grave. They burn their protective clothing and then go their way again.

The helpers do this work on a voluntary basis because the undertakers cannot keep up. According to the Islamic rite, the dead must be buried within a day – and Indonesia has many deaths to complain about: 1338 alone on the day before the festival of sacrifice, a total of around 75,000 Indonesians have already died of Covid-19.

Only a few have been fully vaccinated so far

The country with the largest Islamic population in the world – around 200 million of the 270 million inhabitants are Muslims -, like Malaysia, experienced a violent outbreak of corona cases due to a large wave of travelers after Ramadan.

Only about seven percent of the population has been fully vaccinated so far, most of them with the Chinese vaccine Sinovac. Numerous nurses and doctors have become infected. In the first half of July alone, 117 of them died despite being vaccinated.

There is a lack of everything in the clinics

The hospitals are overloaded, overcrowded and underserved. This woman lost her father and said: “Our father should have been ventilated, said the doctor, but all ventilators were occupied. So he died. It is so horrible to imagine that – my father without ventilation. He’s under big ones Pain died. ”

From now on, the neighboring country Singapore wants to deliver oxygen to Indonesia on a regular basis. A warship has just arrived, loaded with ventilators, oxygen tanks, masks and protective clothing. But many of the 18,000 islands in the Indonesian archipelago are difficult to supply.

Vietnam reports toughest outbreak

Vietnam, which was still a Covid success story a year ago, is now reporting the worst outbreak to date. So it reports the state television broadcaster VTV. Travel between the provinces is prohibited, as is domestic flights. People should stay at home in the capital Hanoi. Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long says: “We are preparing for worse and worst scenarios.”

Almost 6,000 new infections in a day and foci of infection that spreads quickly – these are not good prospects. In Vietnam, out of 98 million inhabitants, just 300,000 are fully vaccinated.