INDONESIA TO IMPORT OXYGEN TANKS AS CASES RISE DESPITE STRICTER CURBS

Mon 05 July 2021:

The Indonesian government is planning to import medical oxygen tanks as the country is fighting the second wave of COVID-19 cases, xinhua repoted

The plan was announced by the country’s Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin in a hearing on Monday with lawmakers of the House of Representatives.

Sadikin said the ministry is planning to import oxygen cylinders measuring six cubic meters and one cubic meter to meet the need of additional emergency rooms in hospitals.

The needed oxygen, the minister said, will be supplied to a number of hospitals in regions on the country’s most populated island of Java, particularly West Java, Central Java and East Java.

Hospitals on the island are reportedly facing shortages of oxygen.

In Yogyakarta province, the regional COVID-19 Task Force recently confirmed that 63 patients with coronavirus infections treated in DR Sardjito General Hospital have died on Saturday and Sunday last week after the hospital ran out of medical oxygen supplies.

Indonesia reported another deadliest day on Monday as the number of deaths from COVID-19 hit 558 in the past 24 hours with 29,745 tested positive for the disease.

Stricter curbs

The new curbs, such as tighter travel checks, a ban on restaurant dining and outdoor sports and the closure of non-essential workplaces, run until July 20, but could be extended, if necessary, to bring daily cases below 10,000.

To keep people home, police threw up road blocks and more than 400 checkpoints across Java, the archipelago’s most populous island, and the resort island of Bali, with more than 21,000 officers enforcing curbs and helping in random testing.

Traffic in the capital, Jakarta, in western Java, was much lighter than usual, with trains and buses nearly empty, but some people still flouted the curbs to jog and ride bicycles, even though main roads were blocked.

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