Photo : webshot. 

July 26, 2021

Anna Murray 

On July 17, Indonesia reported more new daily infections than India and Brazil combined, prompting several news outlets to declare Indonesia Asia's new COVID epicenter. On July 21, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that more than 77,500 people had died in Indonesia, bringing the country's total confirmed cases to around 3 million.

Despite the fact that infections and hospital bed occupancy rates in some Java provinces had decreased, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced on July 25 that COVID-19 restrictions would be extended from July 26 to August 2. President Widodo went on to say that under the current restrictions, the government would gradually relax some restrictions on certain activities while allowing traditional markets and restaurants with outdoor seating to open with some limitations.

Due to overcrowded hospitals struggling to treat the sick, the death toll reached a record 1,338 on July 26. According to the Indonesian Paediatric Society, the COVID-19 infection rate in children in Indonesia is also among the highest in the world, accounting for one out of every eight confirmed cases (362,000).

More than 700 Indonesian children have died as a result of the virus, according to WHO and UNICEF data, with half of them under the age of five. Indonesian children are at risk of contracting some of the world's most dangerous diseases because they do not receive routine childhood vaccinations. The children are among the 800,000 Indonesian children who did not receive routine vaccinations in 2020 due to pandemic service disruptions, a 40% increase from the previous year. The ministry's director of surveillance and quarantine, Prima Yosephine, acknowledged that the pandemic would have an effect on routine childhood vaccination programs in 2020.