Coronavirus: Indonesia imposes partial lockdown in Jakarta and Bali; Thailand’s surge tests health care system
- The new measures announced by Indonesian President Joko Widodo will last until July 20 in hope of bringing daily infections below 10,000
- Health authorities in Thailand reported more than 6,200 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, setting a record for a third straight day
Mosques, restaurants and shopping malls were closed in virus hotspots around the Muslim-majority country, which recorded 27,913 new cases and 493 deaths on Saturday.
Indonesia’s daily caseload has more than quadrupled in less than a month. But the country’s official tally to date, which stands at 2.2 million cases and 60,027 deaths, is widely believed to be a severe undercount due to low testing.
The crisis has pushed Indonesia’s creaky healthcare system to the brink of collapse with makeshift tents set up outside jammed medical facilities.
Hospital corridors are overflowing with the sick lying on gurneys, and infected patients have been turned away from hospitals unable to cope with the influx.
The Delta variant of the virus, first identified in India and now present in at least 85 countries, has been driving the recent wave and accounted for more than 80 per cent of new cases in some areas, the health ministry has said.
The strain is the most contagious of any Covid-19 variant so far identified.