One Hundred Indonesian Doctors Die at Frontlines Fighting Covid-19

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia has lost one hundred of its medical doctors to Covid-19 over the past six months since the pandemic reached the archipelago in March.

Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) spokesman Halik Malik disclosed the latest death toll among healthcare workers.

“Let us join together in praying, not only for the departed doctors but also for the comfort of their family and relatives,” Halik said in a statement.

He also hoped for everyone’s safety, strength, and health in the time of the coronavirus pandemic.

An August 2 report showed that at least 72 Indonesian doctors had died from Covid-19 or while being a patient under surveillance (Covid-19 PDP). It means that in less than a month from that date, at least 28 more doctors have died from the coronavirus in the country.

Meanwhile, after the government announced the first confirmed case about six months ago, the number of infected people has continued to increase. At the time of publication, the official data provided by the Covid-19 Task Force said that 172,053 people have tested positive.

As per Sunday afternoon, the task force recorded 2,858 new cases in only 24 hours. The new confirmed cases were identified after the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method and molecular rapid test (TCM) were carried out. It was recorded that 25,934 specimens from 11,317 people have been examined from August 29-30, bringing a total number of specimens and people to 2,224,337 and 1,282,618, respectively.

The task force stated that over 124,000 patients had recovered from the disease, while there had been over 7,300 deaths throughout 487 municipalities/cities in 34 provinces affected in Indonesia.

(Writer: Dian Erika Nugraheny | Editor: Bayu Galih)

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/08/31/12033361/enam-bulan-pandemi-idi-sebut-100-dokter-telah-wafat-akibat-covid-19.