Jakarta ‘running out of isolation beds’

Sep 10, 2020
Jakarta, Sep 10 (IANS) Indonesia’s capital Jakarta will re-implement stricter social restrictions, starting from September 14, as the number of Covid-19 cases have soared in the past month leading to a shortage in isolation beds, it was reported on Thursday.

In a statement on Wednesday night, Governor Anies Baswedan said that 77 per cent of the isolation beds were currently occupied and the city will run out of them by September 17, the BBC reported.

He also said that Covid-19 intensive care units in the capital would be fully occupied by September 15 if cases continue to increase.

The stricter social restrictions will see office workers working from home; shopping centres and places of worship closed, and bigger scrutiny of traffic around the capital’s borders.

This will also mean that non-essential industries will be shut down again, dealing another blow to an already-reeling economy that saw its biggest GDP contraction in more than two decades in the second quarter this year.

These new measures will produced mixed feelings among the capital city’s residents, reports the BBC.

Some agree with the strict social restrictions, but others, particularly those whose daily incomes have been affected, disagree.

A large number of people are still not observing social distancing or mask wearing.

As of Thursday, Jakarta has recorded 49,397 Covid-19 cases, the highest number in Indonesia, and 1,334 deaths.

Overall, Indonesia has recorded more than 207,000 Covid-19 cases and 8,456 deaths, the highest coronavirus mortality rate in Southeast Asia.IANS