Asian Covid-hotspot Indonesia to receive 45mn Covid vaccines in August, as government eases curbs despite warnings

Indonesia’s health minister has announced that the country will receive 45 million coronavirus vaccines in August just as Covid curbs have been relaxed, despite warnings that doing so will only worsen the country’s situation.

During a press conference on Monday, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, the country’s health minister, said that 45 million coronavirus vaccines will arrive in Indonesia in August. The vaccines expected to arrive in the South East Asian country are Pfizer, Moderna, and Sinovac.

The announcement comes as Indonesia’s president somewhat eased coronavirus curbs on Sunday, although restrictions will be in place until August 2. Beauty salons, markets, and restaurants with outside areas will be allowed to reopen, whilst malls will operate at a significantly reduced capacity of 25%.

The World Health Organization (WHO) implored Indonesia to reconsider its plans to ease restrictions on Thursday. “Indonesia is currently facing a very high transmission level, and it is indicative of the utmost importance of implementing stringent public health and social measures, especially movement restrictions, throughout the country,” the organization noted.

The South East Asian country witnessed over 50,000 cases daily on several days in mid-July, with a record high number of 1,566 deaths recorded on Friday. Although cases have somewhat fallen, as 38,679 new infections were recorded on Sunday.

Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, has vaccinated almost 7% of its 270 million-strong population.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Indonesia has recorded over 3.1 million coronavirus cases, and more than 83,000 lives have been lost.

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