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View all search resultsVirus haunts industrial zones
Most clusters found in large companies applying strict health protocols
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ix months into the pandemic, Indonesian workers are not only at risk of massive layoffs but also of infections at their workplaces, as virus clusters have emerged in factories, prompting calls for tighter government supervision and better compliance of health protocols from companies.
The country’s most populous province, West Java, has seen at least three big clusters with a total of 406 cases emerging from its industrial areas in Bekasi regency, located at the periphery of the capital, within the last weeks of August.
The regency's health agency head, Sri Enny Mainarti, declined to disclose the names of the three factories but said each had 250, 220 and 71 cases, respectively. Another factory had earlier seen dozens of cases in July and another one in May.
They were LG Electronics, motorcycle manufacturer Suzuki and automotive spare part manufacturer PT Nippon Oilseal Kogyu, while previous clusters were also reported from Unilever Indonesia and Japanese industrial conglomerate Hitachi Ltd.
In total, Enny said 22 factories in the regency had reported COVID-19 cases among their workers since the beginning of the pandemic.
In Tangerang, Banten, Mayor Arief Wismansyah told the Post that the administration had traced a total of 43 cases in a cluster emerging from a factory producing daily products from July to August. He also declined to disclose the company names.
Local administration officials have said that the affected factory workers did not only live in the areas where the industrial zones were located but also commuted from areas in Greater Jakarta.
