The baby is not infected, but her mother tested positive for COVID-19 and passed away after giving birthBandarlampung, Lampung (ANTARA) - A frontline medical worker in Bandarlampung, Lampung Province, succumbed to COVID-19 after delivering a baby on Saturday that survived, a health officer revealed.
"The baby is not infected, but her mother tested positive for COVID-19 and passed away after giving birth," Head of the Bandarlampung city health office, Edwin Rusli, stated.
The woman had suffered from the symptoms of COVID-19 before being admitted to a local hospital for delivering her baby, Rusli noted in a statement that ANTARA quoted here Tuesday.
The frontline medical worker did not contract the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the hospital where she worked but at other places, he stated.
Over the past five months, seven medical workers in Bandarlampung City had tested positive for COVID-19 but she became the first fallen health worker this year, he pointed out.
Indonesia has lost more than 647 health workers, including doctors and nurses, since the country was struck by COVID-19 in March last year.
The COVID-19 outbreak initially hit the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019 and thereafter spread to various parts of the world, including countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Indonesian government announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.
Since then, the central and regional governments have made persistent efforts to flatten the coronavirus curve by enforcing healthcare protocols and social restrictions.
To break the chain of transmission of COVID-19, which had impacted the purchasing power of scores of families in Indonesia, the government also banned homebound travel, or "mudik," ahead of this year's Eid al-Fitr holiday season akin to last year.
According to Vice Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono, the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia in the wake of the Eid al-Fitr festivity would peak in mid-June of 2021.
Currently, Indonesia's total count of COVID-19 cases had surpassed 1.8 million amid the government's stern endeavors to win the battle against COVID-19 that has severely impacted its economy and public health.
As part of its efforts to win the fight, the Indonesian government has begun a nationwide vaccination program to contain infections since January 13, 2021.
The Indonesian Health Ministry had pegged the vaccination of some 181.5 million people under the national program to take about 15 months.
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Translator: Dian H, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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