JAKARTA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Gravediggers in Indonesia are now breathing more easily and having more free time to be with their families as the daily death toll of COVID-19 has dropped, with the number falling to zero in some areas.
During the past one year and a half, the gravediggers had to bury bodies of patients who died of COVID-19 every day from morning to night.
Saam Sadjim, one of the gravediggers at the Pondok Rangon public cemetery in capital Jakarta, finally got the time Saturday to cook for his wife and two children their favorite dish, rice with salted fish, and tamarind vegetables soup topped with chili sauce.
"When the transmission of COVID-19 was still high and there were a lot of corpses, I only slept for three hours, and it wasn't good enough because I was overshadowed by fear and worry about this pandemic," Sadjim told Xinhua.
At that time, Sadjim, who buried up to 60 bodies in a day with his team, had to work until 1:00 a.m. and start again at 6:30 a.m. the next day.
Since Jakarta recorded zero death due to COVID-19 on Oct. 17, Sadjim has started to arrive home before 5:00 p.m. and returns to work on the next day at 7:30 a.m. as he did before the pandemic.
Now he has dinner and watches television with his family every night, which is what he missed the most since March last year when the country recorded the first case of COVID-19.
Haerudin Saleh, a 52-year-old gravedigger in Jakarta, also feels the same relief.
During the gloomy period of high coronavirus death rate, Saleh buried up to 57 bodies in a day, but at the end of September there was only one body in a week and there is no more nowadays.
Indonesia has managed to control the COVID-19 pandemic with a sharp decrease in daily cases compared to the peak of the second wave of transmission in July.
Besides Jakarta, other provinces that have recorded zero deaths are West Java, Yogyakarta and Bali, Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said recently.
The senior minister is confident that his country can maintain the low rate of deaths from COVID-19 with the expanding coverage of vaccinations and orderly implementation of health protocols. Enditem
