Indonesia Covid-19 rising amid public doubts

JAKARTA, 4 April 2020:

The official number of Covid-19-related deaths in Indonesia has increased to 191 cases – buy many quarters have begun questioning the validity of data released by the central government.

The government’s spokesperson for all Covid-19 related matters, Achmad Yurianto, said 10 more deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours and 106 new cases had been confirmed, bringing the tally of positive cases in the republic to 2,092.

He also said that all recorded deaths and new cases had been verified based on procedures and examination standard that had been set.

Questions have been raised on the accuracy of the casualty numbers after Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan – in a video conference with Indonesian vice-president Ma’ruf Amin on April 2 – stated that “dozens of deaths, more than 40 deaths recorded daily” in Jakarta throughout last March.

Based on death statistics released by the Jakarta administrator, a total of 283 deaths recorded between March 6 to 29 and all of the bodies were buried following burial procedures for Covid-19 patients, including suspected cases and those who died before they were confirmed positive for the virus.

West Java governor Ridwan Kamil was quoted by the local media as also questioning the figures announced by the central government which he said were higher.

The central government announced both Jakarta and West Java recorded the highest number of fatalities to date, at 90 and 28 cases respectively.

Thailand today reported 89 new Covid-19 cases and one death, bringing the tally to 2,067 cases and 20 fatalities.

Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration spokesperson Thaweesilp Wissanuyothin said a 72-year-old Thai man who has a history of chronic illness was the latest fatality reported in the kingdom.

“Of the 2,067 Covid-19 cases, 1,762 are Thais and 305 are foreigners. Covid-19 has spread to 64 of the 77 provinces in the kingdom,” he said at a daily media briefing today.

Bangkok recorded the most cases with 980 followed by Nonthaburi with 128 and Phuket, 107. To date, 612 patients have recovered and been discharged while the rest are still being treated at hospitals.

To slow the spread of Covid-19, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) issued an order to ban all incoming international flights to the kingdom from today until midnight on Monday.

The order said anyone arriving on a flight that took off before the order came into effect will undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival.

Military aircraft, humanitarian medical relief and cargo aircraft as well as aircraft making emergency landing or technical landing are exempted, said CAAT.

There was chaos at Suvarnabhumi Airport yesterday when a group of Thais returning home refused to undergo a 14-day quarantine at a state facility.

A total of 158 Thais – 103 from Japan, 44 from Singapore and 11 from Qatar – landed at the airport and only six of them agreed to be placed under quarantine in Bangkok.

Meanwhile, Thaweesilp said prime minister General Prayuth Chan o-cha had ordered the 152 Thais who defied the quarantine order at Suvarnabhumi Airport yesterday to report themselves to the relevant authorities today and undergo 14-day quarantine at a state facility.

“They must contact the Emergency Operation Centre at Suvarnabhumi or the Damrongtham Centre in their provinces. We have their information and we will track them down.

“The prime minister ordered to track down the Thais who returned home and to put them under state quarantine facility. The number of infected cases among those travelling abroad is still high. It is dangerous to the country.”

– Bernama