For the children of parents who died from the virus, sorrow and anger remain.

On July 1, the government’s COVID-19 task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito announced that Indonesia had experienced a whopping 620 percent spike in positive cases in the preceding 28 days.

He urged the public to not take COVID-19 and its variants lightly despite the decreasing rate of casualties compared with the Delta variant outbreak. Those who have lost their loved ones ­– parents, children, members of families and friends – to COVID-19 know firsthand how painful it is to learn that lesson the hard way. 

Desolation

Josepha De Vanya Angeline, 13, originally from East Sumba, lost her mother on May 20, 2021, a week after she was diagnosed with COVID-19. Josepha’s mother had comorbidities and passed away due to a brain hemorrhage. Josepha was not able to say goodbye to her mother because her aunt, Ega Margareth, could not bring herself to tell her niece about her mother’s condition. 

Pained by his wife’s death, Josepha’s father, just two months after her passing, succumbed to depression and took his life. 

A lot has changed since then. Ega shared that there were times when Josepha would shut herself down from outsiders. Where before she had been a cheerful girl, Josepha’s loss changed her as a person forever, her aunt testified. 

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