Indonesia has passed another grim milestone in its struggle against COVID-19, having topped the 2 million cases mark with the addition of 14,536 new cases today (which itself is a new daily record).
Of course, this is never a reason to celebrate, but a constant reminder that we can all do better, individually and collectively, to get this country through the pandemic.
In that respect, here are some numbers that illustrate our failures and some that may offer the faintest hint of hope that we are approaching the light at the end of this dark tunnel:
- It took Indonesia 330 days to record its first million cases. Only 147 days elapsed between it hitting 1 million and 2 million cases.
- As of June 21, the number of confirmed cases stands at 2,004,445
- Officially, Indonesia is the 18th country in the world to hit the 2 million cases milestone
- Indonesia is the first ASEAN country to hit the grim milestone, and only the third in Asia to do so after India and Iran
- Indonesia’s death rate of 54,596 is the 17th highest in the world
- The 14,536 cases recorded on June 21 is an all-time daily high, beating the previous record of 14,518 on Jan. 30, 2021
- As of June 20, Indonesia has administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 23 million people and the second dose to 12 million people. That means around 4 percent of the total population have been fully inoculated — still far from the target of 70 percent required to reach herd immunity
- That said, Indonesia has picked up its daily vaccination rate in recent weeks as major cities expand jab eligibility. On June 17, Indonesia topped 700,000 daily jabs for the first time since the mass vaccination program began in January
- Under President Joko Widodo’s order, health authorities are aiming to reach 1 million daily jabs in July. Should that target be achieved and is constantly attained on a daily basis, Indonesia may reach its herd immunity target in about six months
It’s worth noting that there are so many factors at play that it’s practically impossible to make any accurate predictions about the pandemic. It’s up to all of us to continue observing health precautions regardless of whether or not we’re vaccinated. Hopefully, all will turn out better than even our most hopeful expectations and we’ll never have to reach 3 million cases.
