Paying dearly for late response
THE president’s herbal remedy didn’t work, and the cost is heavy across Indonesia: Medical workers wear raincoats and garbage bags to guard against a killer disease. Gravediggers struggle to keep up with a surge of plastic-wrapped coffins. And an army of migrant workers face hunger as the economy slips towards recession.
The world’s fourth most populous country is paying a stiff price for its delayed response to the coronavirus. The crisis, which could result in thousands more dead by next month, was likely avoidable, health workers and policy experts say.
The central government didn’t impose major restrictions on movement and gatherings until April 10, almost six weeks after a dance instructor in West Java was identified as the first of thousands of Indonesian Covid-19 patients.
‘‘We had almost two months to prepare,’’ said Kamila Fitri, a doctor at a hospital in the capital Jakarta, the outbreak’s epicentre. ‘‘Compared to other countries, we reacted too late.’’
Fitri and her medical colleagues have been worried since February that hospitals would be overwhelmed in a country that has seven times fewer doctors per capita than the United States. While countries across the region were reporting hundreds of cases, Indonesia seemed to be suspended in a state of denial – claiming the nation of 270 million was virus-free, despite having direct flights to the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus originated.
Indonesian president Joko ‘‘Jokowi’’ Widodo touted an unproven herbal remedy to ward off the disease. By mid-March, when the seriousness of the situation could not be ignored, Widodo said his government had known the virus was dangerous but didn’t want to ‘‘stir panic.’’
‘‘As in many other countries, the Indonesian government was reluctant to face up to the magnitude of the impending pandemic,’’ said Ben Bland, director of the Southeast Asia programme at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia. ‘‘But it maintained its wilful blindness for longer than others, and, once it came, its response has been slow, piecemeal and confusing.’’
Comprising 17,000 islands across three time zones, the country had only one coronavirus testing facility until recently. It has increased the number of labs to 38, but testing per capita remains among the lowest in the world. The government has conducted about 50,000 tests since April 1, fuelling widespread speculation that the case count of 8211 (as of Friday) and death toll of 689 is significantly higher.
Researchers had been warning there could be 140,000 deaths and 1.5 million cases by May without the stringent social distancing that has only recently been introduced.
Some of those measures are upending traditions in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country. The holy month of Ramadan, which began Thursday, will have to be observed at home this year.
The annual exodus, or mudik, of migrant workers that takes place at the end of Ramadan has also been postponed. The migration usually clutters Indonesia’s roads as millions leave the capital. The economic impact will be severe as workers are stuck in Jakarta with no way to earn money and rural areas go without the financial boost of returning relatives.
TNS