Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With over 25,000 Covid-19 cases being reported daily for the past few days, the Indonesian government has ordered producers to prioritize medical oxygen as the world’s largest Muslim nation is battling an acute shortage of oxygen in a number of cities.
Due to the shortage, one hospital reported at least 63 deaths over the last weekend, while many others exhausted supplies amid increasing infections. Increased travel and the highly contagious Delta variant have exacerbated the crisis, media reported on Monday.
Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, has reported the worst Covid-19 outbreak in South East Asia, with about 2.3 million positive cases and more than 60,000 deaths so far. Experts have warned that the overall numbers are potentially much higher because of severely inadequate testing outside the capital Jakarta.
The government had announced lockdowns on the main island of Java and tourist place Bali last week after a sudden spurt in the number of cases.
Emergency services and intensive care units of public hospitals in the cities of Bandung, Surakarta, and Pamekasan said they were struggling with an influx of people seeking admission, forcing the officials to either turn some of them away or keep patients in tents outside.
Demand for oxygen has also shot the prices up. Health ministry official Siti Nadia Tarmizi said they had asked the gas industry to step up production of medical oxygen, and appealed to people not to hoard, amid reports that many were privately amassing oxygen cylinders.
In Jakarta, the daily number of funerals following Covid-19 protocols jumped 10-fold since early May, the government said on Sunday. Even medical frontline workers, despite mostly vaccinated, have been infected.
Indonesia is primarily relying on the Chinese vaccine Sinovac and experts are now considering giving a third dose to boost efficacy against the new Delta variant.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said last week that the country was “teetering on the edge of a Covid-19 catastrophe”.
Meanwhile, starting Tuesday, Indonesia will allow only fully-vaccinated foreign visitors who present a negative Covid-19 test, the authorities said. Incoming visitors will still have to spend eight days in quarantine upon arrival.
Across Java, Indonesia’s most populated island, hospitals had erected plastic tents in mid-June itself to serve as makeshift intensive care units, and patients waited for days before being admitted. Oxygen tanks were rolled out on the sidewalk for those lucky enough to receive them, while others were told they would need to find their own supply, according to reports.
The government directed oxygen producers to dedicate their full supply to medical needs and will import it if needed.
Indonesia has seen a rapid surge in Covid-19 cases in the last two weeks. The Health Ministry recorded 29,745 new cases with 558 deaths from the virus on Monday. The country has recorded more than 2,313,000 cases, including 61,140 deaths.