Indonesian regency battles surge in cases of Delta variant

Two weeks after Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations last month, Indonesian Sutiyo Darto developed a fever that would not go away. His wife, children and most members of the 50 families they had visited in Kudus, Central Java, were also unwell.

"It turned out that everyone had contracted Covid-19. It was truly terrifying. Several times a day, the mosque near my house would announce through the loudspeakers that someone has died of the coronavirus. When will it be my turn?" the 51-year-old odd-job labourer told The Straits Times over the phone from a quarantine facility.

Kudus, which has 871,000 people and is the smallest regency in Java, was thrust into the spotlight late last month after being the first area in Indonesia to detect the Delta variant, which first emerged in India.

Within a week, the number of cases in Kudus had jumped from 26 to 929. As at last Thursday, more than 12,985 people had been infected, including 1,070 who died, Kudus Health Agency data showed.

As Kudus battled to break the chain of infection, the capital Jakarta and Bangkalan regency on Madura island also reported rapid spikes in cases, triggering fears of a fresh wave of infection hitting the country, just as in India.

The Health Ministry blamed the latest surge primarily on the Delta variant, and the "mudik" mass travel of Indonesians from big cities to their home towns during the Muslim holiday.

Daily new cases in Indonesia have reached an all-time high of more than 20,000, exceeding the peak in January of 15,000 a day.

Total cases have surpassed 2.1 million, including more than 57,000 deaths, in the country of 270 million people that has been hardest-hit in the region by the pandemic. Actual figures are believed to be higher, due to low testing and contact tracing.

Epidemiologists are calling for a national lockdown, but President Joko Widodo insisted that more localised, micro-scale mobility restrictions "can be run without killing the people's economy".

After more than a year of living under tightened health and safety protocols, pandemic fatigue and complacency appear to have set in among many Indonesians, including residents in Kudus.

Many went ahead with the Hari Raya tradition of visiting friends and the graves of their loved ones.

Those who had been vaccinated felt safe to mingle freely again, while those infected would self-medicate as they were worried about being hospitalised or quarantined outside their home town.

Mr Sutiyo said: "We chatted a lot whenever we gathered, and smoked a lot, too. It's too hot to be wearing masks so we just pulled our masks down when we talked."

But with Covid-19, even those who are cautious can still catch it.

Ms Fauzul Yusroh, a 21-year-old public health undergraduate, spent most of her time at home after her university began online-based learning.

Yet, she found herself hooked up to an oxygen cylinder, battling for her life earlier this month after contracting the Delta variant.

It all started innocuously with a "cough and cold which did not go away with paracetamol", she recalled.

Ms Fauzul then developed breathing difficulties, which became so bad that she had to move to the living room to sleep as her bedroom felt stuffy. She told The Straits Times: "I panicked because I could not breathe properly. It felt as if someone was pressing down hard on my chest."

She was taken to the hospital after her condition worsened.

She said: "The thought of death did cross my mind, but I prayed very hard. Everyone was praying for me too. After I felt like I could breathe again, I was vomiting for two days straight."

In the deeply religious regency, known as "Kota Santri" (City of the Pious), Muslim clerics, students and Islamic mass organisations such as Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah have stepped up in the war against the pandemic.

Mr Sarmanto Hasyim, head of NU's Covid-19 task force in Kudus, said he sought advice on developing and running isolation facilities from Sonjo, a WhatsApp community group in Yogyakarta which has successfully converted disused hospitals into shelters for patients with mild to no symptoms.

"As the hospitals are full, patients isolate themselves at home, but the virus can spread to other family members easily due to lack of monitoring," he told ST.

Twenty pesantren (religious schools) have been converted into quarantine facilities, and the best-equipped one - Nashrul Ummah - has begun accepting not only pesantren students, but also members of the public.

Mr Supriyono, a local official at Nashrul Ummah, said volunteers rotate across three shifts to care for the patients, who were referred there after their infections were detected by swab tests at clinics.

Volunteers have also helped to bury those who have died of Covid-19.

Mr Satriyo Yudo, head of the Muhammadiyah Covid-19 Command Centre in Kudus, said his team has been helping to bury 40 to 50 bodies a day over the past month.

The 40-year-old said he felt compelled to volunteer after he and his family contracted the virus, and his brother died of Covid-19 last year.

He said: "I'm calling for war against the virus. We are all just so sick and tired of it."