Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – At least 949 medical workers in Indonesia have died due to COVID-19 since the coronavirus was firstly detected in the country in March 2020 to June 2021, the Indonesian Medical Association’s head Adib Khumaidi said on Friday (June 25).

Of the 949 medical workers, 401 were doctors, 315 nurses, 150 midwives, 15 pharmacists, 43 dentists, and 25 medical laboratory experts.

“The extraordinary surge in the number of patients in hospitals has increased the working hours of medical workers and doubled their risks of being exposed to the coronavirus,” Adib added.

He stressed that the surge in COVID-19 cases could not be resolved simply by increasing the bed capacity in hospitals, but it had to be addressed from upstream by enhancing public mandate on health protocols to limit the number of new cases.

In May 2021, seven doctors died from COVID-19, and the number jumped to 24 in June 2021.

The highest number of doctor deaths of COVID-19 were recorded in January 2021 (65), December 2020 (57), and August 2020 (32).

So far, Indonesia has recorded more than 2.1 million cases of corona virus infection with 57,138 deaths.

On Sunday (June 27), daily new cases in the country reached the highest number of 21,342, since March last year.

Reporting by Indonesia Window