Indonesia is shifting medical emergency units in Jakarta to tents outside hospitals to create more room for Covid-19 beds, the health minister said, as authorities scramble to boost hospital capacity amid a spike in coronavirus cases.
The world's fourth most populous nation reported that overall coronavirus cases topped two million this week, while Thursday's 20,574 rise in infections was the biggest since the start of the pandemic.
The virus surge has piled pressure on a fragile healthcare system, with hospitals in some cities nearing full capacity, while hundreds of healthcare workers have tested positive for the respiratory disease and at least 10 who were fully vaccinated have died.
“How long this pandemic is going to be around comes down to all of us,” Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told a streamed briefing.
