Indonesia Short On Oxygen Supply As More COVID-19 Cases Are Reported

Just two months ago, Indonesia was coming to a gasping India’s aid with thousands of tanks of oxygen. Today, the Southeast Asia country is running out of oxygen as it endures a devastating wave of coronavirus cases and the government is seeking emergency supplies from other countries, including Singapore and China, Niniek Karmini reported for the Associated Press (AP).

A shipment of more than 1,000 oxygen cylinders, concentrators, ventilators and other health devices arrived from Singapore on Friday, followed by another 1,000 ventilators from Australia, said Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the government minister in charge of Indonesia’s pandemic response.

Besides those donations, Indonesia plans to buy 36,000 tons of oxygen and 10,000 concentrators — devices that generate oxygen — from neighboring Singapore, Pandjaitan said. He said he is in touch with China and other potential oxygen sources.

The US and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also have offered help. “We recognize the difficult situation Indonesia currently finds itself in with a surge of COVID cases,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

In addition to sending vaccines, the US is working to increase assistance for Indonesia’s broader COVID-19 response efforts, she said, without elaborating.

Overall, Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, has reported more than 2.4 million infections and 64,631 fatalities from COVID-19.

Those figures are widely believed to be a vast undercount due to low testing and poor tracing measures. Indonesia reported the highest toll of 1,040 deaths on Wednesday and nearly 39,000 confirmed cases on Thursday and Friday.

Hospitals are swamped, with growing numbers of the ill dying in isolation at home or while waiting to receive emergency care.

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