Indonesia faces Oxygen crisis amid COVID surge

Indonesia is facing dual problem.Surge in Covid caes and shortage of Oxygen supply. The country's Government has ordered producers to prioritise Medical Oxygen amid a COVID surge and a shortage of oxygen in a number of cities. Hospitals said, they have almost exhausted supplies, with one reporting that 63 patients died as a result of oxygen shortages. Indonesia is recording more than 25,000 new cases every day. Increased travel and the highly contagious Delta variant have exacerbated the crisis. Indonesia has had the worst COVID outbreak in South East Asia, with about 2.3 million positive cases and more than 60,000 deaths so far. 
A lockdown was announced on the country's main island Java, as well as in the tourist island of Bali last week. Two hospitals in the city of Bandung on Monday announced that they had run out of oxygen and had to reject new patients seeking emergency treatment. Over the weekend, emergency services and intensive care units of public hospitals in the cities of Bandung, Surakarta and Pamekasan said, they were struggling with an influx of people seeking admission with some having to turn away patients. 
Health Ministry official Siti Nadia Tarmizi said, they had asked the gas industry to step up production of Medical Oxygen and appealed to people not to hoard. In Jakarta, the daily number of funerals following COVID protocols jumped 10-fold since early May, the government said.Meanwhile, starting Tuesday,Indonesia will change entry rules for foreign visitors, only allowing in fully vaccinated people who present a negative COVID test, the authorities said. Incoming visitors will still have to spend eight days in quarantine upon arrival.