Red Cross: Indonesia’s Covid-19 situation nears ‘catastrophe’
Gravediggers wearing personal protective equipment burry a coffin of a coronavirus disease victim, at the burial area provided by the government for Covid-19 victims, in Jakarta June 28, 2021. — Reuters pic
JAKARTA, June 29 — Indonesia’s Covid-19 surge is on the edge of a “catastrophe” as the more infectious Delta variant dominates transmission and chokes hospitals in Southeast Asia’s worst epidemic, the Red Cross said today.
Indonesia has reported record daily Covid-19 infections of more than 20,000 in recent days, in a new wave of infections fuelled by the emergence of highly transmissible virus variants and increased mobility after the Muslim fasting month.
“Every day we are seeing this Delta variant driving Indonesia closer to the edge of a Covid-19 catastrophe,” said Jan Gelfand, head of the Indonesian delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), urging better vaccine access globally.
Hospitals in several designated “red zone” areas have reported overcapacity, including the capital Jakarta, with its isolation beds 93 per cent occupied as of Sunday.
“Hospitals are full because of the case surge caused by mobility and loosening health protocol adherence, worsened also by the Delta variant,” said senior health ministry official Siti Nadia Tarmizi, when asked about the IFRC’s assessment.
The Delta variant was first identified in India and has been blamed for big spikes in infections in many countries.
Indonesia is banking on mass vaccinations as a means of tackling the virus, but only 13.3 million of the 181.5 million targeted for inoculation have received the required two doses since January.
Indonesia’s health minister is leading a push for stricter controls as infections surge to unprecedented levels, sources familiar with government discussions have told Reuters.
Citing unnamed sources, The Straits Times newspaper today reported the government will tighten restrictions starting tomorrow, prohibiting restaurant dining and requiring negative polymerase chain reaction tests for domestic air travel.
Asked for confirmation of that, Nadia of the health ministry said: “Wait for the official announcement.” — Reuters
Indonesia has reported record daily Covid-19 infections of more than 20,000 in recent days, in a new wave of infections fuelled by the emergence of highly transmissible virus variants and increased mobility after the Muslim fasting month.
“Every day we are seeing this Delta variant driving Indonesia closer to the edge of a Covid-19 catastrophe,” said Jan Gelfand, head of the Indonesian delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), urging better vaccine access globally.
Hospitals in several designated “red zone” areas have reported overcapacity, including the capital Jakarta, with its isolation beds 93 per cent occupied as of Sunday.
“Hospitals are full because of the case surge caused by mobility and loosening health protocol adherence, worsened also by the Delta variant,” said senior health ministry official Siti Nadia Tarmizi, when asked about the IFRC’s assessment.
The Delta variant was first identified in India and has been blamed for big spikes in infections in many countries.
Indonesia is banking on mass vaccinations as a means of tackling the virus, but only 13.3 million of the 181.5 million targeted for inoculation have received the required two doses since January.
Indonesia’s health minister is leading a push for stricter controls as infections surge to unprecedented levels, sources familiar with government discussions have told Reuters.
Citing unnamed sources, The Straits Times newspaper today reported the government will tighten restrictions starting tomorrow, prohibiting restaurant dining and requiring negative polymerase chain reaction tests for domestic air travel.
Asked for confirmation of that, Nadia of the health ministry said: “Wait for the official announcement.” — Reuters
Big disaster coming for Indonesia, as many "Fully Vaccinated" people are getting infected and dying from Covid-19, especially front-line personnel who were prioritised for vaccination.
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ReplyDeleteTHE GUARDIAN
Indonesian Covid deaths add to questions over Sinovac vaccine
Authorities consider giving other jabs to medics after 10 fully vaccinated doctors die in June
Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent
Mon 28 Jun 2021
At least 10 out of 26 Indonesian doctors who have died from Covid-19 this month had been fully vaccinated with Sinovac, prompting authorities to consider whether medics should receive alternative doses to boost immunity.
Indonesia, which has relied on the Chinese-made vaccine for its health workers, is struggling with a new surge in coronavirus cases. The latest outbreak, driven by new variants, has overwhelmed hospitals and burial sites in Jakarta and on the island of Java. On Monday the country announced 20,694 new infections.
In Kudus, a town in central Java, more than 500 medical workers have tested positive for Covid-19 over the last two weeks, including one doctor who died. All were fully vaccinated.
The data, released by the Indonesian Medical Association, adds to questions about the level of protection that Sinovac provides against new, more infectious variants.
The vaccine was approved for emergency use this month by the World Health Organization, which said efficacy results showed it prevented symptomatic disease in 51% of those vaccinated, and prevented severe Covid-19 and hospitalisation in 100% of the studied population.
However, several countries that have vaccinated a large proportion of their population and used the Chinese-made Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccines as part of their inoculation campaigns have reported recent outbreaks. These include Mongolia, Seychelles, Bahrain and Chile.
Concerns over the efficacy of Sinovac and Sinopharm has exacerbated problem of vaccine hesitancy in some countries that are reliant on Chinese-made doses. Last month the Philippine health department said the public would not be told in advance which brand of vaccines would be available at inoculation sites, after people queued up from 2am at a site they believed was offering Pfizer.
“The concern for Sinovac is about the published evidence – it is very sparse for Sinovac compared to the other vaccines,” said Dr Pawin Numthavaj, a clinical epidemiologist at Ramathibodi hospital in Thailand, which received a delivery of 2m doses of Sinovac last week.
He said reports of outbreaks in other countries that have replied on Chinese-made vaccines were troubling, as many of Thailand’s health workers had been given Sinovac. “This vaccine may be working, but not for everyone … It’s our job to determine who it is working [for] and who it is not.” Pawin said the Thai government should seek a greater range of vaccines.
The Indonesian Medical Association’s risk mitigation team said it believed that overall any Covid vaccine approved by WHO and the Indonesian authorities was helping to reduce the risk of severe Covid.
However, it said it was discussing whether health workers should be given an extra dose of an alternative vaccine. “We saw that some countries are supporting a mix-and-match scheme to boost immunity for medical workers,” said Dr Adib Khumaidi, the head of the risk mitigation team. “The most important thing is that [if] taking a Covid vaccine, people should keep doing health protocols,” he said. The group has called for the government to impose tougher lockdown restrictions.
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ReplyDeleteOn Monday Indonesian’s food and drug agency approved Sinovac for use in children aged 12-17. The health ministry’s Covid vaccination spokesperson, Dr Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said there was no policy on giving health workers a third dose. She said the number of infections among health workers was driven by their high exposure, including to more infectious variants such as Delta. Most had no symptoms or only mild symptoms, she said.
Olivia Herlinda, a policy director at the Centre for Indonesia’s Strategic Development Initiatives, said the Indonesian government had few options regarding its vaccination strategy, given that it had signed agreements with Sinovac.
“[I’m] not sure our government has the financial capital to make another deal with other vaccines with better efficacy,” she said. Instead, the government needed to open up access as much as possible, using what was available, she said. “There is a very high demand, but unfortunately, limited supply and facilities.”
Between March 2020 and 26 June 2021, 949 medical workers in Indonesia died after becoming infected with Covid-19. They included 401 doctors and 315 nurses.
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Wow!
DeleteWhat a c&p fishing trip to land a biggie against thingy China.
Israel has almost achieved herd immunity after closed to 70% of her population have been inoculated with Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine.
No new cases will detected until the last few weeks - from 21 to 28jun 1204 cases infested with Delta valiant. The newly elected govt has initiated tighten lockdown & reimposes mandatory face masks wearing.
The town of Binyamina in the north which registered the highest rate of cases in the country was designated a "red zone" on Wednesday - the first to be listed as such for months.
Israelis vs-a-vis indonesians - one a medically advanced & discipline while the other 3rd word & herd mentality with only 4.9% of the population fully vaccinated.
I think there is no doubt that the America has started its cold warfare against China (China didn't want it). US has tried to marshal the 5-Eyes, the G7 + 4 countries (failed attempt) to attack China with its smear campaign to blacken China with Xinjiang forced labours, ethnics cleansing and whatnots. It will try to use the up coming G20 meeting to continue its attack to try to isolate China. Obviously the western media, Indian media, Japanese media and the Taiwanese (Official) media will tag along with nothing good on China. That's why one has to open his eyes wide when reading. Not that every sentence will be untrue but with such an agenda the truth will be downplayed while the bad implications are highlighted. Compare the above by The Guardian with this :
Deletehttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/04/30/fact-check-misleading-claim-deaths-fully-vaccinated-people/4856504001/
Take an extract :
As of April 20, the CDC has indeed reported a total of 7,157 cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated people and 88 deaths.
Fact check:Coronavirus vaccines don’t cause death, won’t decimate world’s population
Because it is Pfizer matter, the report came with follow up explanation, a caveat.
While the toll/the numbers of deaths maybe worse than the Indonesia case, but the fact that it is a Sinovac matter, there is no follow up explanation, no caveat, only straight forward slant reporting all implying inferiority of Sinovac. Honestly, what is the difference between Pfizer and Sinovac?
I rest my case.
Blurred mfer, do countercheck yr c&p fart with this
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/GFJDpa5o6k8
CNN? WSJ?
All concocted lies to blackgoat China vaccines. & subsequently pick up by other hp6 western propaganda media like the guardian!