 Indonesia
warns COVID-19 cases may not peak until July as hospitals fill
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[June 14, 2021]
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia expects a new
wave of coronavirus infections will peak in early July, as the highly
transmissible delta variant becomes more dominant in some areas and with
the occupancy of hospitals in Jakarta hitting 75%, officials said.
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 COVID-19 infections in the world's fourth most populous country have
been on the rise in recent weeks since holidays at the end of the
Muslim fasting month, when millions flouted restrictions to travel
across the archipelago.
The delta variant was now "more dominant" in areas like Jakarta and
other parts of Java, Health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told a news
conference on Monday.
At least 60 cases of the variant had been detected in Kudus, Central
Java, where hospitals were more than 90% full, said Wiku Adisasmito,
spokesperson for the country's COVID-19 task force.
On Sunday, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said hospital occupancy
rates in the city of 10 million had hit 75% and infections jumped by
50% in the past week and if the situation got worse authorities
might have to consider reimposing coronavirus restrictions.
"The capital is in need of extra attention," Anies said in a
statement posted on Facebook. "If the condition gets out of control,
we will enter an acute phase."
Authorities plan to increase hospital capacity by 40% in Jakarta,
while hotels will be converted into isolation centres, chief
economics minister Airlangga Hartarto said on Monday.
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 Indonesia has officially
reported more than 1.9 million coronavirus
infections and 53,116 deaths although recent
seroprevalance studies show the true scale of
the spread could be 30 times higher.
On Sunday, Indonesia recorded almost 10,000 new
COVID-19 cases, the highest number since
February.
Low rates of testing, contact tracing and
genomic sequencing have made it harder to
determine to what extent new variants might be
driving new infections, but epidemiologists say
it is likely a significant contributing factor.
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Additional
reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Angie
Teo; Editing by Kate Lamb and Ed Davies)
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