The Economic Impact of Covid in Bali, Indonesia

April 4, 2022

People riding banana boat

Having fun on banana boat water sports on the beach in in Bali

Indonesia, like all other countries in the world, has experienced the covid pandemic. However, compared to other countries of similar size, Indonesia has fared relatively well, with total cases to date  (mid November 2021) only about 10% of the United States or Brazil. While government policy certainly contributed to this success, geography also played a major role. Indonesia is an archipelago with dense population and urban centers concentrated on Java. Access from Java to other islands is by ferry (to Sumatra, Kalimantan and Bali), ship or air. Isolating the “Outer Islands” from large scale transmission out of Java was relatively easy.

Indonesia’s pandemic has experienced two surges, a relatively small one following the 2020 Christmas/New Year holiday season when the alpha (United Kingdom) variant was emerging and a much larger one following the 2021 Muslim Ramadan/Eid season when the delta (India) variant was spreading, Figure 1A.

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