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High Saudi death toll overshadows Indonesia's plans to allow ‘umrah’
The government has sent mixed signals over its travel advisory to Saudi Arabia, with citizens still leaving for their religious pilgrimage despite concerns over rising COVID-19 cases and casualties in the kingdom.
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Rows of worshipers pray at the Masjidil Haram grand mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca, on Dec. 30, 2021, following the imposition of new restrictions due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. (AFP/-)
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ore than a third of all Indonesian deaths overseas that are associated with COVID-19 have occurred in Saudi Arabia, the Foreign Ministry has revealed, as authorities grapple with the dilemma of protecting undocumented workers and allowing its people to resume religious pilgrimages there.
Just two months shy of entering its third year in March, the pandemic has left a trail of death, crippled health systems and a battered global economy.
The work of protecting travelers and migrant populations has become more demanding, with host governments unable to shift their attention beyond their own people, especially when it involves illegal or undocumented laborers.
Out of the nearly 8,000 Indonesians infected by COVID-19 abroad, more than 100 have died in Saudi Arabia alone.
According to recent ministry data, 7,974 Indonesian nationals have been infected with the coronavirus overseas since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
From this figure, 273 have died, with the biggest share occurring in the Saudi kingdom – though there have been higher caseloads among Indonesian citizens in other countries.
In Saudi Arabia, 101 out of the 270 Indonesians infected have died, while in nearby Qatar it was three out of 741, two out of 831 in Singapore and no deaths out of the 366 cases reported in Hong Kong.
