Indonesia’s Covid-19 Death Toll Surpasses 10,000

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia's death toll from Covid-19 has gone past 10,000 people, raising concern over the country's handling of the pandemic.

The Covid-19 Task Force has announced in its website that coronavirus has claimed the lives of 10,308 people in the country. Of this number, 518 deaths were recorded September 23-26. 

The number of deaths is in line with the rise in daily infection figures, which in the recent week hit past 4,000 — from 4,176 on September 21 to 4,634 on September 24.

The daily infection number peaked at 4,823 on September 25.

Also read: Indonesian Covid-19 Task Force Warns of Looming Health System Collapse

“The number of coronavirus cases reached a new record of 4,823. This is a cause for concern, as it reflects the high number of infections among the public,” said the Task Force in its website www.Covid19.go.id.

“The number of cases in Indonesia currently stands at 271,339 people since Covid-19 was first detected [in Indonesia] on March 2.” On the other hand, the task force added that 199,403 of those cases recovered from the coronavirus. 

The Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) attributed the death toll and the rising number of cases to glitches in the country’s system of referral hospitals.

“Many Covid-19 cases still have difficulties to be treated in referral hospitals [throughout Indonesia]. Many of them also suffered from pre-existing conditions,” said IDI deputy Slamet Budiarto.

ANTARA FOTO/Aprillio Akbar A bicyclist goes past a mural raising awareness about the Covid-19 pandemic in Petamburan, Jakarta, on 16/9/2020. ANTARA FOTO/Aprillio Akbar/aww.

Also read: Indonesian Government Urged to Intensify Mass Testing for Covid-19

“Another cause for the high number of deaths is because many of the patients came to referral hospitals when they were already in terminal stage.”

Slamet added that the rise in daily infections is also caused by logistic difficulties. “The lengthy amount of time for PCR tests contributed to the increase in [Covid-19] patients as are unavailable medication to treat them.” 

“Irregular monitoring is another cause as are the limited number of ventilators or delays in their procurement by hospitals.” Indonesia's Covid-19 death toll is the third highest in Asia, after India with 92,317 fatalities and Iran with 25,015. 

(Writers: Dian Erika Nugraheny, Sania Mashabi, Irfan Kamil | Editors: Bayu Galih, Diamanty Meiliana)

Sources:

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/09/25/15321901/update-bertambah-4823-kini-ada-266845-kasus-covid-19-di-indonesia?page=all#page2. 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/09/26/15511351/update-26-september-tambah-4494-kini-ada-271339-kasus-covid-19-di-indonesia 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/09/25/10211581/angka-kematian-covid-19-tinggi-hingga-lewati-10000-ini-penjelasan-idi?page=all#page2.