Indonesia’s Virus Deaths Near 1,500 Amid Plans to Exit Lockdown

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The death toll from coronavirus pandemic in Indonesia neared 1,500, the highest in Southeast Asia, as officials weighed plans to relax social distancing measures and reopen the economy.

Tests confirmed new infections in 687 patients in the past 24 hours, taking the total count to 24,538 and death toll to 1,496, Achmad Yurianto, a spokesman for the government task force, said at a briefing in Jakarta Thursday. East Java, home to the nation’s second-largest city and a major industrial hub, reported 171 new cases, the most among the nation’s 34 provinces.

The government is working on a plan to allow tourists to return to Bali by July, National Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa said. Authorities are also drawing up plans for a gradual exit from strict social distancing measures, including in capital Jakarta, to pave the way for a V-shaped recovery in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Jakarta, the nation’s epicenter of the pandemic, saw a spike in infections because of the return of migrant workers from overseas, Yurianto said. The government has deployed almost 350,000 security personnel to help monitor public transport, shopping malls and tourism sites in cities and regions which have implemented partial lockdowns.

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