In Indonesia, coronavirus floods Cisadane River with extra hazard - medical waste
01 September, 2020
For the residents along Indonesia's Cisadane River, the coronavirus has taken not simply deadly disease, but also a deluge of medical waste: A constant blast of syringes, face masks and hazmat suits floating by.
The double threat for those who rely upon the 138km river to bathe and wash their clothes comes as Indonesia has struggled to contain COVID-19, now with the best death toll in Southeast Asia, and before week almost 3,000 new infections a day.
As the virus has spread, medical waste have been turning up at Tangerang's Cipeucang landfill. Then in-may its walls collapsed, sending a great deal of garbage directly into the Cisadane's khaki green waters.
"I still worry in all honesty, but I must wash here," local resident Eka Purwanti, 36, told Reuters, as she did her laundry in the river, and children played on the riverbank, "I am hoping nothing may happen, although I know it's a deadly disease."
Like countries around the world, Indonesia has seen the pandemic bring an enormous upsurge in medical waste, an issue that has raised concern in places from Spain to Thailand and India.
In the months because the landfill collapsed, Ade Yunus, founder of the Cisadane River Rubbish Bank, has been attempting to clearing up the waterway.
"The 1st time we found medical waste was following the landslide," said Yunus, bending right down to pick up a syringe and deposit it in a safe box. "In the beginning, we found around 50 to 60 items each day."
Indonesia's health ministry acknowledged the challenge - saying 1,480 a great deal of COVID-19 medical waste was produced across the country from March through June - and admitted the united states lacked treatment facilities, but was focusing on solutions.
"A new regulation has just passed that included guidelines around medical waste treatment in every health facility," said ministry official, Imran Agus Nurali.
Most health facilities in Indonesia, including hospitals, currently count on third parties to incinerate their waste.
The deluge has raised fears among public health specialists that the medical waste could spread the disease, with those in riverside communities at risky.
"If this medical waste spreads in the residential area near to the river then it might potentially pollute the water that is utilized by persons there," said Mahesa Paranadipa Maikel, an epidemiologist from the Indonesian Law Health Society, "It might potentially result in the transmission of COVID-19."
By the river, it's a risk residents recognise.
"I worry if the kids could easily get infected with COVID-19 if they swim here," said Cisadane local Astri Dewiyani. "That's why I usually forbid my kids to swim at the river."
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