Indonesia Prepares Scenario for 70,000 Daily Covid-19 Cases

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Affairs, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, said that the number of daily Covid-19 infections continues to rise. The government, he said, is preparing for an even worst case scenario.

Yesterday, the country hit a new record high of more than 29,000 cases in 24 hours. Luhut said the rate could still rise up to 40,000 per day.

"We are preparing a scenario to handle that [possibility]," he said in an online press conference, Tuesday, July 6.

According to Luhut, the government has prepared a scenario to anticipate up to 40,000 daily infections, by calculating the need for oxygen, hospitals, and necessary medicines.

Specifically for oxygen supplies, Luhut said the government even prepares for up to 50,000 or 70,000 daily Covid-19 cases.

"For oxygen, we have a scenario for up to 50,000 [new daily cases]. The worst could be sixty to seventy thousand cases per day. But we hope it will not come to that," Luhut said.

Luhut said his ministry had brought in 21 ISO or oxygen tanks from Morowali. They are ready to be distributed in Java and Bali. The oxygen tanks have arrived at Tanjung Priok Port.

The government is also communicating with Singapore and China for assistance in medical supplies, such as infrastructure and oxygen, in case of a shortage in domestic supply.

Read also: Jakarta Police Closely Monitoring Oxygen Supplies

TEMPO.CO