Badaruddin was among at least three people who had offered their land for burials, according to Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo.

“They are good people with a deep sense of humanity,” said Ganjar.

Across Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation of 270 million people, residents have been rejecting the burial of coronavirus victims, deepening the grief of families who lost loved ones.

On Tuesday, hundreds of people on the eastern island of north Sulawesi protested against the burial of a coronavirus patient in a village, staging a rally outside the local authority’s office, according to reports.

Just two weeks before, a 38-year-old nurse in Central Java, identified only as NK, died of the virus. Her family wanted her to be buried next to her father in Sewakul village in Semarang regency. To their shock, attempts to lay her to rest were blocked by dozens of villagers.

She was later buried at Bergota Cemetery, the largest public cemetery in Semarang. Three people were arrested in connection with the protest against her burial.

“Nurses, doctors and other health workers never rejected a patient. How could we reject them, who have sacrificed their lives to save us,” said Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo said in a video on his official Instagram account. “I’d like to say once again that the bodies of Covid-19 patients are handled in accordance with safety standards.”

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As of Wednesday, 26 doctors, six dentists and 13 nurses had died since the outbreak of the pandemic, according to the Indonesian Medical Association.

Indonesia reported 260 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections nationwide to 9,771.

Another 11 people died, raising the death toll to 784 – the highest in Asia outside mainland China.

Fuelling the fear are provocation by vocal individuals and the circulation of fake news which in turn influences an ignorant public, said psychologist Alissa Wahid, national director of Gusdurian Network Indonesia (GNI), a grass roots organisation with activists in more than 100 cities in Indonesia.

“Due to this confused understanding, it triggers a flight-or-fight mode of the human brains,” said Alissa, whose father was the late president Abdurrahman Wahid, the country’s first democratically elected president.

“We still need to find a correct viewpoint to this issue. Rational explanation is not sufficient as this rejection [burial] of Covid-19 victims is more a result of emotions and not logical thinking,” said Alissa.

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Since March, her group has been going door-to-door to educate the public on the dangers of the coronavirus and also tell them it is safe to have Covid-19 victims buried in their vicinity.

Muhammad Habib Abiyan Dzakwan, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) disaster management research unit, warned that these rejections present direct challenges to public order – something that is needed right now to ensure the government can focus on mitigating the fallout from the pandemic.

Habib said the denials are usually marked by large gatherings of protesters. “We should not exclude the possibility that this rejection might escalate into more unnecessary tension,” he said.

The lack of proper communication and coordination between local governments and communities around designated graveyards was also a factor.

“As far as I noted from several cases like in Central Java, East Java, and North Sulawesi province, people rejected Covid-19 dead patients because they do not understand that the virus would be no longer infectious after the body is buried,” said Habib.

“Furthermore, they are not aware that some health protocols have already been exercised, and there are some legal consequences for those who reject the burials … maybe the language that is used is too difficult or too complex,” said Habib.

Covid-19 victims have also been turned away if they did not come from the location where their families wanted them to be buried.

“In certain cases, the local community still accept the burial if the victims are originally from that particular area,” said Habib.

“A specially designated graveyard for Covid-19 is definitely needed. If the local government cannot provide it, I think it would be good to also involve private sectors on this issue. As far as I noted, some businessmen have already donated their lands for the burial,” said Habib.

The Jakarta Globe reported last week that a public cemetery in Pondok Ranggon, East Jakarta, is starting to run out of graves to bury Covid-19 victims.

A worker at the cemetery said they bury up to 20 victims of the pandemic every day. “We’re worried there might not be enough space here to bury all of them,” said the worker.

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The Ministry of Religious Affairs has been a leading agency in mitigating rejections, as burials in Indonesia always follow religious practices.

Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo is one of the few local leaders who have been proactive in handling the pandemic and its fallout, according to Habib.

“I don’t see any systematic order or specific document from the national government to demand the local leaders to address the rejection of Covid-19 patients. The Ministry of Information should also act faster in combating hoaxes on the ground as well,” said Habib.