Indonesia's COVID-19 surge has been so extreme that volunteers are recovering dead bodies from people's homes as hospitals turn patients away

A family covers the body of their 56-year-old mother who died at home due to complications related to COVID-19 in Bogor, West Java province, Indonesia.

REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

• Indonesia is battling a huge coronavirus surge that has overwhelmed hospitals.
• Volunteers have stepped in to remove the bodies of coronavirus patients from their homes instead.
• Volunteers are also digging graves and sourcing oxygen.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Volunteers in Indonesia are taking coronavirus dead from people's homes as the country battles a devastating coronavirus surge, and hospitals are too overwhelmed to treat patients.

The country has seen a huge surge in new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths since the beginning of July:

Graph showing daily new deaths from COVID-19 in Indonesia as of July 15, 2021. Illustration by Insider.

Worldometer/Insider

Volunteers are now being used to remove dead bodies, as well as do things like building coffins and trying to track down oxygen tanks for infected people, according to The Guardian.

Ardi Novriansyah, a former ambulance driver, told Reuters he had been getting around 24 calls a day to recover bodies from people's homes over the last month.

"What's important is that we have a desire to help as volunteers, for humanity," he said.

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