Covid-19
Gravediggers carry a coffin of a person who died of Covid-19 for burial at a cemetary in Bekasi, near the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, on July 2, 2021. ( AFP / Rezas)

False claim circulates in Indonesia that 'no Covid-19 victims died outside hospitals'

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on July 23, 2021 at 08:50
  • 2 min read
  • By AFP Indonesia

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Multiple Facebook posts circulating in Indonesia claim that nobody has died from Covid-19 outside of the Southeast Asian nation's hospitals. The posts misleadingly question whether the disease is deadly whilst implying Indonesian hospitals are responsible for its virus deaths. The claims are false: thousands of Covid-19 victims in Indonesia have died outside hospitals, according to data recorded by a volunteer group. AFP and other media have reported people died of Covid-19 while self-isolating at home and elsewhere after hospitals became overwhelmed with patients.

The claim was shared in this July 15, 2021, Facebook post.

It has received more than 120 likes.

Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on July 21, 2021

The post's Indonesian-language caption translates to English as: "THEY SAY IT'S FEROCIOUS AND DEADLY. If Covid-19 is dangerous, why don't people die on the streets, at home, the farms, plantations, markets and shopping malls? They always die of Covid-19 at hospitals. WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH HOSPITALS?????"

A similar claim was also posted here, here, here and here.

The claim is false.

As of July 23, 2021, Indonesian volunteer group Lapor Covid-19 has recorded at least 2,491 people who died of Covid-19 while they were self-isolating at home or in places other than hospitals.

AFP has reported that Covid-19 patients have died at home after an explosion of Covid-19 cases overwhelmed hospitals in the Southeast Asian archipelago.

AFP photos published here and here show health workers removing the body of a Covid-19 patient who died while isolating at home in Bandung, West Java province.

Health workers removed the body of a Covid-19 victim who died while isolating at home in Bandung, West Java province, on July 18, 2021, as skyrocketing Covid-19 cases are overwhelming hospitals in the country. ( AFP / Timur Matahari)

Indonesian media sites have also reported Covid-19 patients who died on the street; in a market; in a car park; in a streetside stall and on a pedicab.

Indonesia has recorded more than three million Covid-19 cases and more than 79,000 deaths, according to the Indonesian Health Ministry's data on July 22, 2021.

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