Covid-19 Spreads to Small Islands, Remote Areas

POLAIRUD POLDA MALUKU

Water and Air Police officers from the Maluku Regional Police held a COVID-19 vaccination socialization for fishermen at the border between Indonesia and Timor-Leste on Friday (19/3/2021).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Covid-19 pandemic has spread to Indonesia’s outermost islands and remote areas, where health facilities and medical workers are more limited. The risks the people in those areas face are therefore even greater.

Daniel Latelay, the head of Sera Community Health Center (Puskesmas) on Lakor Island, Southwest Maluku, Maluku, said on Friday (13/8/2021) that Covid-19 cases had been detected in the area since July 2021.

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Lakor is a small island in the Wallacea archipelagic zone and is inhabited by around 3,000 people. Reaching the island requires taking a charter flight from Ambon or a four-day journey by boat.

“There was a teacher couple here whose child visited from Ambon. When the child was about to return to Ambon, it turned out his rapid antigen test result was reactive. He also infected health workers here,” Daniel said.

The alternatives are to take a ferry, which takes four days, or a two-day journey by speedboat.

He is worried that the virus could spread more widely, given the limited number of health workers and antigen test kits. Meanwhile, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is only available in the provincial capital of Ambon, which can only be reached by plane from Tiakur on Moa Island, the administrative capital of Southwest Maluku regency, which requires a boat journey from Lakor. The alternatives are to take a ferry, which takes four days, or a two-day journey by speedboat.

“We are concerned that the Delta variant might enter our area. It will be difficult to handle because we are not [well-equipped]. There are also no doctors at the Puskesmas, only nurses and midwives,” said Daniel.

Daniel added that the local Puskesmas had only 50 antigen test kits and two empty oxygen cylinders. “We really hope that there will be assistance [in the form] of oxygen concentrators and antigen test kits,” he said.

KOMPAS/SATGAS COVID-19 MALUKU

Data on Covid-19 cases in Maluku as of Friday (9/7/2021).

Covid-19 is also spreading across Aru Islands regency in southeastern Maluku. Mika Ganobal, a customary leader and the head of Sima Lima subdistrict in the regency, said that Covid-19 had already entered remote villages.

“Village residents have generally [presented] symptoms of Covid-19. The majority of them, however, are not examined further, let alone taken to a hospital,” said Mika.

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Mika said that 20 residents in the Aru Islands had died from Covid-19. However, far more with Covid-19 symptoms had died without further testing or hospitalization.

Remote areas in Kalimantan

A Covid-19 outbreak has reportedly occurred in Long Sule village in Kayan Hilir, Malinau regency, North Kalimantan. The village, which has a population of around 1,000 people of the indigenous Punan Aput ethnic group, can be reached only by chartered aircraft. The alternative is to journey by land and sea, which takes more than a week depending on weather conditions.

Tri Bekti, the head of Puskesmas Long Sule, said that as many as 44 Long Sule villagers had tested positive for Covid-19. “All of them are showing symptoms of Covid-19. Twenty-seven have recovered, while one person has died. The others are still in self-isolation,” Tri said.

Tri expressed hope that the patients’ condition would not worsen due to the limited supply of oxygen and drugs. In addition, the Puskesmas had no doctors.

“We have one oxygen concentrator and one oxygen cylinder. It would be hard to allocate those if many patients need them at the same time,” Tri said.

KOMPAS/KRISTIAN OKA PRASETYADI

Mike Kmur (18), a resident of Supiori, Papua, who lives in Manado, receives the first injection of the Covid-19 vaccine at Megamall, Manado, North Sulawesi, Monday (28/6/2021).

Antoni Udang, a customary leader and head of neighborhood unit (RT) 005 in Respen Tubu village, North Malinau, Maliau, said that most residents had experienced Covid-19 symptoms, such as fever and loss of smell. The majority of them, however, did not want to be hospitalized.

“I also just recovered after 10 days of illness. Before that, my wife got sick, and then my children, parents and in-laws. All my neighbors here have experienced [the symptoms], but we don’t want to go to the hospital,” he said.

According to Antoni, residents living in the remote areas of upstream Tubu were experiencing similar symptoms. “In general, they are infected by village officials who had work in the city,” he said.

Disclose data

With regard to the Covid-19 response, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has called on regional administrations not to conceal data on Covid-19 cases. Disclosing data was the key in handling Covid-19.

“There is no need to conceal the numbers. Just leave them open. This is our mutual problem. Nothing is wrong [with disclosing high numbers]. What is wrong is if we hide the data. If we disclose it and comply with the [health] protocols, the cases will definitely decrease,” Luhut said on Friday in Malang, East Java.

In Lampung, Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto asked the Lampung administration to optimize its Covid-19 handling measures amid the community activity restrictions (PPKM) level 4.

KOMPAS/VINA OKTAVIA

Officers conducted a random Covid-19 antigen swab test on residents of Negara Ratu Village, Natar District, South Lampung Regency, Lampung, Friday (13/8/2021).

Additionally, regional governments have been asked to prepare centralized isolation facilities to reduce the risk of virus transmission in the community. (AIK/ADH/SON/CAS/DIA/VIO)

(This article was translated by Camilia Adianti)