THE NEW YORK TIMES: BULUS WETAN, Indonesia — When Debiyantoro, a hotel repairman, first lost his sense of taste, he wondered briefly if it might be Covid-19, but he quickly dismissed the idea. Having the disease would mean not being able to make a living.
Now he blames his reluctance to get tested for the death of his 22-month-old daughter, Alesha Kimi Pramudita. All 10 members of their crowded household suffered Covid-like symptoms but none were tested until Kimi went for an unrelated checkup. Hospitalized immediately, she died a day later.
“Although I thought it might have been Covid, I was afraid I wouldn’t be allowed to work, which means I couldn’t have supported my family,” Mr. Debiyantoro, who like many Indonesians uses one name, said as he tried to hold back tears. “But now I am filled with remorse that I lost my daughter.”
Across Indonesia, children have fallen victim to Covid in alarming numbers, with a striking increase since June, when the Delta variant began taking hold. The pandemic has killed at least 1,245 Indonesian children and the biggest recent jump has been among those under age 1, said Dr. Aman Bhakti Pulungan, head of the Indonesian Pediatric Society.
Researchers point to many reasons children would be more likely to die in developing countries, but many of those factors boil down to a single one: poverty. » | Dera Menra Sijabat, Richard C. Paddock and Muktita Suhartono | Saturday, August 14, 2021
