Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesia reported its first two coronavirus cases on March 2, and has tallied 1,986 confirmed cases and 181 deaths as of April 3, making it the country with the most coronavirus deaths and the highest fatality rate in Southeast Asia.
Indonesia’s death rate stood at 9.1 percent compared to 5.2 worldwide as of Friday. In comparison, the Philippines had a 4.5 percent death rate and Malaysia had a 1.6 percent rate during the same period, although both countries have higher number of cases with more than 3,000 each.
Some 95 health workers in the capital Jakarta, the hardest-hit part of the country, have been infected with coronavirus, according to the news portal Kompas.com on April 3. At least 13 have died as of April 2, according to the government.
From zero reported infections and fatalities in January and February, Indonesia now faces a sudden jump in its coronavirus statistics.
Experts say the overstretched health system, a shortage of personal protective equipment, and minimal rapid testing contributed to the high number of coronavirus deaths in the world’s fourth-most populous country.
“We can see the government is still a few steps behind the spread of this virus,” said Panji Fortuna Hadisoemarto, a faculty member at Padjadjaran University’s School of Medicine in Bandung.
“[There is] late provision of laboratories and examination tools, and a low number of tests,” he said. “Facilities and health workers are not ready, [the stay-at-home] policy is still only an appeal, and there is minimum information transparency.”
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