Jakarta, (Asian independent) At least 647 medical workers in Indonesia have died due to the novel coronavirus since March 2020, the Indonesian Medical Association said on Thursday.
Of the 647 medical workers, 289 were doctors, 27 dentists, 221 nurses, 84 midwives, 11 pharmacists and 15 medical laboratory staff members, reports Xinhua news agency.
Head of the association’s mitigation team Adib Khumaidi said the small number of Covid-19 diagnostic tests had caused insufficient handling of the pandemic and many medical workers were exposed to the virus.
“The number of tests in Indonesia now is less than 5 percent of the total population,” Khumaidi said.
The province with the highest number of medical worker deaths is East Java, which reported 188 fatalities.
In capital Jakarta, the virus claimed the lives of 43 doctors, 10 dentists, 25 nurses, two pharmacists, three medical lab staff members, and seven midwives.
As of Thursday morning, Indonesia has registered a total of 1,024,298 coronavirus cases and 28,855 deaths.