HOW INDONESIA HANDLES COVID-19

That is the critical question that many indonesian have in their mind these days. According to Indonesian Health Ministry website, there are 1,441 cases as of 30 March 2020 with an 8.6% death rate, totaling 122 deaths. Meanwhile, the recovery rate is only 5,3% totaling 75 recovered cases. This rate is concerning given that it has only been three weeks since the first case was discovered in the country.

Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash

The government since then has taken measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 but met with obstacles. They seem to be moving at a slower pace at responding to the situation. They have been trying to ensure the situation is under control but according to various reports from the field, says otherwise.

The lockdown in Indonesia is very lax. People are still able to move around the city freely and even hold gatherings. Only recently most people are taking strict measures by barricading the entrance to their neighborhood. There’s even a city in central java that closed its door to any visitors for four months starting 30 March 2020. This regional lockdown is imposed due the country’s failure to impose stricter national lockdown. Many areas are doing localism which means, instead of waiting for the central government to act for strict lockdown they initiate lockdown to take care of their community. However, the question whether people will receive compensation or logistic aid remains to be the biggest question. This aligned with an argument circulated online that the national lockdown could heavily impact many informal workers and the poorest in the country.

Another problem in Indonesia is that informal workers are leaving the red zone as the government is slowly moving towards stricter measures. They flee the capital to seek safe haven in their hometown. This may cause surge and spread of the disease. By leaving the red zone, it may be difficult for Indonesian government and healthcare workers to contain the virus.

According to National disaster mitigation via thejakartapost, the most dangerous people are the asymptomatic who carried the virus but still freely moving around in and out of their home. This type of courier can infect more people and takes toll on people with high risk age and the one with autoimmune disease.

Experts have tried to voice their opinion and try to help the government by demanding stricter law. However, from the Jakarta globe, it is reported that some experts are worried about potential riots if the country imposes strict measures to deal with the virus.

Indonesia is also entering “Ramadan” or fasting month where people are usually migrating back to their hometown. People from the red zone, especially Jakarta, are going back to various provinces in Java and outside of Java island. This has been one of the main concerns of the government and the people. Another report from the Jakarta Post mentioned that there will be a surge of infected cases as massive as 70,000 people. We can only hope that this could be wrong. However, this nightmare situation may be happening if people are still not following the rule from the central government.

Not only the government who tries to warn people not to leave the capital, startups, local communities and almost everyone demands the same thing. Since many lives are at stakes, this is important for many to be less selfish.

Meanwhile, on the healthcare front, the battle in Indonesia is met with lack of supplies of protective gear and medical equipment. As reported from thejakarta post, most hospitals are not ready to deal with the virus. To make the matter worse, six doctors have died after treating patients of COVID-19. However, efforts are being made by citizens and national fashion companies. They helped sewing protective hazmat suits for the healthcare workers. This effort may help minimize the lack of supplies in hospitals across Indonesia especially in Jakarta.

What does the government do then? They have been trying their best to contain the virus. However, the spokesperson of the COVID-19 mitigation has been doing some slip up including saying that the rich protect the poor so they can live normally. The poor protect the rich so they don’t spread the disease. This statement has caused outrage among the citizens.Although many are trying to elaborate that the spokesperson meant no disrespectful, people are still fumed over it. So far, the government efforts have met with constant criticism. The statement could be translated that the poor are the courier of the disease. However, from the development of COVID-19, it is objectively known and fact that the first case was coming from people who have been overseas then spread it to locals which then cause local transmission.

There are many problems that Indonesian face at this point including from the economic standpoint. Economically speaking, many people are also afraid of potential depression. As of now, Rupiah is all time low towards the US dollar and may continue to slump if the strict lockdown imposed by the central government. This may cause the situation of 1998 to repeat which is one of the nightmare events of Indonesian’s history.

The COVID-19 spread lies in the effort of collective individuals. If people are still shrugging the importance of staying home and self-isolation, the number of positive cases may surpass Italy and China as Indonesia is the 4th country with the highest population in the world.