DENPASAR, INDONESIA, May 2, 2020 (Aljazeera): The Indonesian resort island of Bali, which received half a million international tourists a month until visas on arrival were halted on March 20, is now the site of a medical mystery that has beguiled many: There are no visible signs of a widespread coronavirus pandemic here. As of Saturday, there were only 235 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the island, including 121 recoveries and four deaths – figures that fly in the face of predictions by contagious disease experts cited in reports by Al Jazeera and other news sources, which warned Bali could emerge as a coronavirus hotspot in Indonesia.
From a medical perspective, Dr. Panji Hadisoemarto, an epidemiologist at Padjadjaran University in Java, has also been pondering Bali’s apparent immunity to COVID-19. “When COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan, I thought Bali would be one of the first places to be hit hard because of all the Chinese tourists,” he said. “I was wrong, and I’m starting to question the assumptions behind these models because the rate of transmission is a lot lower than expected.
Gede Wanasari, head priest of the Indonesia Hinduism Society, told Al Jazeera Bali was spared because of the good karma and prayers of the Balinese people. He also points to Balinese cuisine, saying it “contains a lot of herbs to increase human immunity” – a theory supported by some studies and nutrition experts on the island.
But the real question is – is this real or just an artifact of under-reporting? When Al Jazeera visited Udayana University Hospital in Bali last weekend, there was no one outside the emergency ward. At Sanglah Hospital, the largest on the island, nine people were waiting for attention – none of whom displayed outward symptoms (such as a dry cough) of COVID-19. Meanwhile, employees at the largest burial grounds on the island – Kampung Jawa Muslim Cemetery and Taman Mumbul Crematorium – said they had not been busier than usual since the pandemic began.
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