Monument to 'Covid-19 heroes' unveiled in Indonesia

Two health workers place flowers in front of a monument that lists the names of health workers who have died on the frontlines of the battle against the Covid-19 in Bandung. - AFP

JAKARTA, Dec 5 (dpa): A monument inscribed with the names of health workers who died because of the Covid-19 pandemic was unveiled on Saturday (Dec 4) in the Indonesian city of Bandung.

Indonesian Vice-President Ma'ruf Amin officially opened the cenotaph, located in Gasibu Square, a public park in the capital of West Java province.

Construction of the structure began before the pandemic, but the local government decided to turn it into a memorial for "Covid-19 heroes."

More than 2,000 Indonesian health workers have died of Covid-19, according to LaporCovid-19, a group that tracks pandemic data in the country.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country with 270 million people, has recorded about 4.2 million coronavirus cases, with nearly 144,000 deaths.

However, cases have dropped drastically over the last two months and there daily cases have dropped to below 300 over the last few weeks.

Indonesia on Saturday (Dec 4) confirmed 246 new Covid-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 4,257,489, according to the country's Health Ministry.

The ministry said that the death toll from the virus in the country rose by five to 143,863, while 314 more people have recovered during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 4,105,994.

Indonesia started mass Covid-19 vaccinations on Jan. 13 after the authorities approved the emergency use of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.

More than 142.03 million people have received their first dose of vaccines, while over 98.62 million have taken the second dose.

Indonesia has so far administered over 241.89 million doses of vaccines.

The Indonesian government aims to vaccinate 208.2 million people in the country.