COVID-19 cases on the rise among Indonesian children as crisis grows

• Head of Indonesia's paediatric society says weekly child deaths from COVID-19 rose to 24 last week from 13 in the previous week.
• Percentage of overall cases that were under 18 years of age has risen to 12.6% in June.
• President Joko Widodo announces that authorities have given a green light for children age 12 to 17 to be inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine.

---

A senior paediatrician said on Wednesday that the rate of Indonesian children dying of coronavirus has tripled since May, with infant deaths from COVID-19 rising sharply as the country deals with the most severe wave of infections so far.

Indonesia has been hit by a surge in cases this month, with new records on six days since June 21 including a daily high of over 21,807 on Wednesday, putting pressure on the government to impose tighter measures.

Dr Aman Pulungan, head of Indonesia's paediatric society, said weekly child deaths from COVID-19 rose to 24 last week from 13 in the previous week, many under five years old.

That was a larger rate of increase than the overall rise in COVID-19 deaths from 1,783 to 2,476 fatalities nationwide over the same period.

Read more: Indonesia cancels Hajj pilgrimage for second year in a row

Aman said infections among minors were rising fast.

"It is increasing now. In mid-May there was about 2,000 – 2,500 cases per week," said Aman. "Last week there was more than 6,000 cases."

The percentage of overall cases that were under 18 years of age has risen to 12.6% in June compared to 5% in July last year, according to official data, although Aman noted children were now being tested more.

President Joko Widodo this week announced that authorities had given a green light for children age 12 to 17 to be inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine.

Aman said paediatricians were already seeing cases of "long COVID" — debilitating and lingering symptoms months after infection — among Indonesian children.

Read more: Indonesian aircraft 'wears mask' to spread awareness about coronavirus

He believed the rising infections among children was more likely pandemic fatigue and lack of knowledge than the impact of more transmissible variants.

"It's not the Delta variant, but the system," he said, referring to the variant first identified in India.

"Less testing, less tracing. And people still don't think that children can suffer and die from COVID. Awareness is still low."