Coronavirus: Indonesia sees cases surge as death toll among doctors mounts
- The pandemic has claimed the lives of at least 22 doctors, six dentists and 10 nurses, amid concerns about access to personal protective equipment
- There have also been reports of suspected Covid-19 patients refusing treatment and travelling back to their hometowns
“[The increase in cases] is also because there is more testing as the capacity has been expanded,” said health ministry disease control and prevention director general Achmad Yurianto.
Indonesia has now tested more than 25,000 people using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which are considered more reliable than the cheaper rapid test kits, said Yurianto. It has sourced new PCR kits from Switzerland and will expand testing to 78 laboratories.
On Sunday, Indonesia reported 399 new cases of the coronavirus, its biggest daily jump so far. There were 316 new cases on Monday, raising the total number of confirmed infections in the country of 270 million to 4,557, with 399 deaths. Indonesia has the highest death rate in Asia outside China. Yurianto said the new cases included people returning home from visits to Jerusalem and Turkey.
