YAKARTA (Reuters) – The junaedi Bin Hakim gravedigger works until almost every day in a cemetery in Jakarta, preparing plots for his Indonesian compatriots amid another peak of coronavirus burials.
“I’m worried and scared, yet it’s part of my homework and my responsibilities,” said four-year-old Junaedi, who before the global pandemic left paintings at four o’clock in the afternoon spending time with his young family.
Jakarta has been the epicenter of the outbreak in Indonesia, where the government has fought for months to involve the virus. The country has reported nearly 245,000 cases, totaling 9,553 deaths, the degrees in Southeast Asia.
Unlike many other Asian capitals, the Jakarta government has imposed a strict blockade, opting for more calibrated social restrictions, a technique that some fitness experts have described as too lax.
After an initial outbreak at the start of the pandemic, burials in Jakarta averaged 20 to 30, in line with July and August, but soared in September between 50 and more than 60 per day, according to city government data. .
As ambulances with victims meandered across the front of Pandok Ranggoon Cemetery, Junaedi said it could be complete in two months at the current rate of burials.
“We usually bury about 10 more people every day. But in the last few days, when we’re dealing with COVID-19 burials, it’s an average of 30 a day,” he said.
Jakarta’s governor, Anies Baswedan, said more land had been established should that happen.
The death toll in Indonesia averaged 114 in line with the day over the following week, up from 64 a month ago, according to a Reuters tally of official data.
Baswedan said in an interview last week that while not all funerals were coVID-19 patients, “I don’t see any other illnesses in our city. “
Baswedan said funeral buildup, as well as tension in the city’s fitness system, were the reasons he restored social restrictions in Jakarta last week, which prohibit running in women’s offices. essential businesses and restrict the capacity of public transport and places. Praise.
“We have never experienced this kind of jump,” Baswedan said. “That’s why . . . we have to slow down. “
For Junaedi’s wife, Karlina, her husband’s paintings are a source of concern for her grandchildren, despite the physical conditioning protocols that are followed for funerals.
“I still have two kids at home, so I’m scared and worried,” she says.
(Additional report via Angie Teo and Johan Purnomo; edited through Ed Davies and Jane Wardell)
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