At least 123 doctors die of coronavirus in Indonesia

By Nicky Aulia Widadio

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AA) - At least 123 doctors have lost their lives to the novel coronavirus in Indonesia since the pandemic started in March, a doctors’ association said on Monday.

Halik Malik, spokesman of Indonesian Doctors Association, told Anadolu Agency that among them were general practitioners, specialists, professors.

"The highest number of fatalities was recorded in the East Java province with 30 doctors," said Malik.

The association recorded a significant rise in the number of doctors who died from COVID-19 in the last two months.

It said the high number of patients caused extreme fatigue among health workers, making them more vulnerable to the virus.

Malik said hospitals were overwhelmed by the rising number of infections and fatalities among health workers.

He added that the association has published standard guidelines for doctor protection to reduce fatality rate based on their level of risk.

The protection guidelines include the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), work duration, zoning of rooms for patients and room ventilation.

The country on Monday reported 3,509 new coronavirus cases, bringing the nationwide tally to 278,772 cases, according to the Health Ministry.

At least 87 more virus-related fatalities pushed the death toll to 10,473, while recoveries in the archipelagic country jumped by 3,856 to reach 206,870.

Indonesia has the second-highest number of coronavirus infections among member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, only behind the Philippines, which has recorded 307,288 cases so far.

*Writing by Rhany Chairunissa Rufinaldo from Anadolu Agency's Indonesian language services in Jakarta