JAKARTA, 1 July 2021:
Indonesia’s president today announced a series of emergency measures, to be in effect between July 3 and 21, to contain a Covid-19 outbreak linked to the Delta variant in the country.
“The government will mobilise all available resources to contain the spread of Covid-19,” Joko Widodo said in a video message, in which he also announced more beds in hospitals and quarantine centres for the infected, as well as the availability of oxygen tanks.
The measures are mainly focused on the islands of Java, where more than 50% of the country’s 270 million inhabitants live, and Bali, a popular tourist destination.
Although the order does not force people to stay at home at all times, it orders a temporary closure of schools, religious centres, parks, museums, sports stadiums, malls, bars and restaurants, among other places.
However, weddings with up to 30 people and with no food served at the venue will be allowed.
It also decrees that personnel not engaged in essential services continue working from home, while employees of sectors including finance, food, construction, energy and telecommunications can go to offices under strict health protocols.
People who want to travel long distances must present a vaccination certificate indicating at least one dose of vaccination and a negative Covid-19 test result.
With hospitals in the country overflowing, daily infections have exceeded 20,000 for a week while the number of deaths stands at around 500 per day.
The Red Cross warned on Tuesday of the risk of the collapse of hospitals in Indonesia, where, according to official data, 47% of hospital beds are occupied, a figure that has climbed to 93% in the capital Jakarta.
The international body added that the outbreak is linked to the Delta variant, which experts say is more infectious.
Indonesia has recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases in the region, 2.17 million, as well as the most deaths, over 58,000, and has fully vaccinated 4.9% of its population.
Meanwhile, Vietnam detected 713 fresh Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, the highest since the start of the pandemic in the country, according to the health ministry today.
The jump comes at a time when the government is accelerating its vaccination campaign and conducting a mass tests to try to control the fresh outbreak.
According to the Ministry of Health, 464 of these cases were detected in Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s largest urban area with nine million inhabitants.
The city has started a mass testing campaign with the aim of testing half its population by next week.
Vietnam has so far recorded 17,576 coronavirus cases and 81 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
However, more than 14,000 of these cases are from the most recent wave of infections that occurred around the end of April in different parts of the country.
In recent weeks, the country has accelerated its vaccination campaign, with lots received from the Anglo-Swedish company AstraZeneca.
The country expects to have a vaccine manufactured in the country by early September.
So far, a mere 200,000 people have been fully vaccinated in the country, which the authorities have attributed to a lack of supply.
The Communist regime in Hanoi has secured 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and 20 million doses of Russian Sputnik V.
It expects to receive another 38.9 million doses under the World Health Organisation’s CoVax programme for developing countries, and has also been negotiating with Moderna and Pfizer for more vaccines.
– EFE