VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) has reported the deaths of three more frontline doctors due to novel coronavirus disease, bringing the total death toll to 130 as of October 3, 2020.

"Sad news once again comes to us. Within the first three days of October 2020, three more doctors died of COVID-19," Spokesperson of the IDI-Central Executive Board's Mitigation Team, Elizabeth said on Sunday.

The medical professionals who succumbed to the infection comprise 110 male doctors and 20 female doctors, she said, adding that they came from 18 provinces, including East Java, North Sumatra, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, and South Sulawesi.

Among them are 67 general practitioners, 61 medical specialists, and two residencies, Elizabeth said.

A worrisome trend has arisen in the past two weeks for Indonesia that has been battling to flatten its coronavirus curve since March 2020.

The country witnessed a spike in COVID-19 infection rates, with the addition of over four thousand new cases daily.

On Oct 3, 4,007 new cases were reported over a 24-hour period, pushing the total tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 299,506.

In dealing with the soaring number of new confirmed cases, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan declared the re-enforcement of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) that has come into effect from Sept 14, 2020, based on the emergency COVID-19 situation in the capital city.

As of Oct 3, Indonesia's COVID-19 recoveries had reached 225,052 while they recorded the mortality rate at 11,055.

Coronavirus infections initially emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019. Since then, COVID-19 has spread to over 215 countries and territories, including 34 provinces of Indonesia, with a massive spurt in the death toll.

To protect Indonesians from the deadly virus, the Indonesian Government has been striving to get COVID-19 vaccine candidates through bilateral and multilateral mechanisms.

Indonesia, for instance, has collaborated with the Chinese government through Sinovac Biotech's candidate vaccine, but it is also leaving no stone unturned to develop its own vaccine to fight the virus.

Besides the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, Indonesian scientists are currently working on a vaccine named after the country's national flag, Merah Putih (Red and White). (Antaranews)