The number of funerals in Jakarta rose sharply in March, a development the governor of Indonesia's capital city said suggested that deaths from the new coronavirus may be higher than officially reported.
Nearly 4,400 burials occurred in March, 40 per cent higher than any month since at least January, 2018, according to a Reuters review of statistics from the city's Department of Parks and Cemeteries. The second-highest total during that period was March 2019, when nearly 3,100 people were buried.
Reuters was able to obtain statistics going back to the start of 2018.
The city has been at the epicentre of novel coronavirus infections in Indonesia, accounting for 971 cases and 90 deaths, according to central government data, or roughly half the country's total for both.
Jakarta's governor, Anies Baswedan, and some public health experts suspect the number of infections and deaths in Jakarta has been significantly under-reported due to one of the world's lowest rates of testing.
"It is extremely disturbing," Baswedan told Reuters on Friday, referring to the funeral statistics. "I'm struggling to find another reason than unreported Covid-19 deaths."
A senior health ministry official did not respond to phone calls and messages requesting comment on the funeral statistics. A spokesman for President Joko Widodo did not respond to requests for comment.
The figures from Jakarta's Department of Parks and Cemeteries do not identify the cause of death, but no other new epidemics have been reported in Jakarta over the period and nor were there any major natural disasters.
Indonesia has almost doubled tests in the past week but has conducted only 7,621 tests in a country of more than 260 million people.
As of Friday, the health ministry reported the total number of infections in Indonesia was 1,986. Deaths from Covid-19 were 181, the most in Asia apart from China.
In an interview on Thursday, before Baswedan had made his comments, Achmad Yurianto, a senior health ministry official, defended the reporting and testing system.
He said the central government based its data on lab results using the accurate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. He did not respond to requests for comment on the funeral figures.
Hospital staff and undertakers in Jakarta have taken special precautions with the bodies of 438 people they suspect died from Covid-19 between March 6 and April 2, according to the governor's office.
The protocols mean undertakers disinfected and wrapped the bodies in plastic rather than fabric as Islamic customs requires. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim majority country.
Indonesia is combatting the outbreak of novel coronavirus by introducing social distancing policies, but President Joko Widodo has opposed the harsh lockdown measures adopted in many countries including Indonesia's neighbours.
Widodo has said that he wants to protect the poor from economic dislocation and believes Indonesians lack the discipline to embrace tough quarantine measures.
Baswedan, a political opponent of Widodo, has imposed tougher measures in Jakarta, where he has declared an emergency and schools and many shops and businesses are shut.
But his call for a ban on bus travel from Jakarta to other parts of Indonesia in an effort to stop the spread of the virus has been rejected by the national government.
Amid fears that an annual exodus to homes across the archipelagic nation for the Muslim Ramadan holiday would accelerate the outbreak, Indonesia announced on Thursday it would give cash to poor families to stay in Jakarta instead.
However, the government rejected calls for an outright ban on "mudik", as the holiday is known locally, because it did not want to introduce draconian measures.
The novel coronavirus has already spread beyond Jakarta. It has been detected in 32 of the country's 34 provinces and, as of this week, most cases are outside Jakarta, according to central government data.
Boulder shooting victims
• Denny Strong, 20
• Neven Stanisic, 23
• Rikki Olds, 25
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
• Suzanne Fountain, 59
• Teri Leiker, 51
• Eric Talley, 51
• Kevin Mahoney, 61
• Lynn Murray, 62
• Jody Waters, 65
RESULT
Manchester City 5 Swansea City 0
Man City: D Silva (12'), Sterling (16'), De Bruyne (54' ), B Silva (64' minutes), Jesus (88')
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
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Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
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Wonka
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Abu Dhabi World Pro 2019 remaining schedule:
Wednesday April 24: Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, 11am-6pm
Thursday April 25: Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, 11am-5pm
Friday April 26: Finals, 3-6pm
Saturday April 27: Awards ceremony, 4pm and 8pm
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
More on Quran memorisation:
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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SPECS
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900
Engine: 937cc
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox
Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm
Torque: 93Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
more from Janine di Giovanni
Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
Ain Issa camp:
- Established in 2016
- Houses 13,309 people, 2,092 families, 62 per cent children
- Of the adult population, 49 per cent men, 51 per cent women (not including foreigners annexe)
- Most from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa
- 950 foreigners linked to ISIS and their families
- NGO Blumont runs camp management for the UN
- One of the nine official (UN recognised) camps in the region
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
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BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
