Reader TTS

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia reported more than 54,000 new coronavirus cases for the first time Wednesday, surpassing recent daily infections in India, whose disastrous outbreak is

declining, and becoming Asia’s new virus hot spot. Officials fear that the more highly transmissible Delta variant is now spreading from the islands of Java and Bali, where outbreaks

prompted a partial lockdown that closed places of worship, malls, parks and restaurants. “I predict the outbreak will increase continuously in July as we are not able yet to prevent the

spread of infections,” epidemiology expert Pandu Riono of the University of Indonesia said Wednesday. “Emergency social restrictions are still inadequate. They should be twice as stringent

since we are facing the Delta variant, which is two times more contagious.” Indonesia’s Health Ministry reported 54,517 new cases and 991 deaths Wednesday, pushing its cumulative number of

confirmed cases above 2.6 million and confirmed fatalities to more than 69,000. A month ago, daily cases were running at about 8,000. Reported daily cases in Indonesia are now higher than in

India, despite Indonesia having a much lower testing rate. India reported fewer than 39,000 cases Wednesday, far below its peak of more than 400,000 daily cases in May, following lockdowns

in its worst-hit areas and a stepped-up vaccination drive. Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government has identified the spread of the Delta variant in some regions

outside Java and Bali. He told lawmakers Tuesday that across the country, more than 90,000 of the 120,000 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients are occupied. “Nationally, we still have some

room. But the bed occupancy rate is very high in some provinces where the explosion of the Delta variant is concentrated,” Sadikin said. With the increase in deaths over the last month, some

residents near Jakarta have begun helping overburdened gravediggers. “As the diggers are too tired and do not have enough resources to dig, the residents in my neighborhood decided to

help,” said Jaya Abidin, who lives in Bogor, on the outskirts of Jakarta, the capital. “Because if we do not do this, we will have to wait in turn a long time for a burial in the middle of

the night.” The government is struggling to acquire enough COVID-19 vaccine doses to reach its target of inoculating more than 181 million of its 270 million people by March 2022. So far,

only 15.6 million people have been fully vaccinated. The world’s fourth-most populous country has secured 137.6 million doses of Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines, enough for about

69 million people. MORE TO READ