Coronavirus Miracle: Tourist Hot Spot Bali's Low COVID-19 Count Baffles Scientists

Amid the widespread devastation caused by the coronavirus, Bali remains a pandemic.

According to Dr. Panji Hadisoemarto, an epidemiologist at Padjadjaran University in Java, the tourist destination should have been hit hard by the coronavirus global pandemic that has caused close to 250,000 deaths. Dr. Hadisoemarto is baffled as to why Bali has an apparent immunity to COVID-19.

The Indonesian Island lies about 1,600 miles southeast of Singapore. It is one of a chain of islands that separate the Bali Sea and the Flores Sea to the north and the Indian Ocean to the south. It is a tourist destination hosting many Chinese visitors and is famous for being a retreat for those who practice yoga and meditation.

"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. "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. But the real question is — is this real or just an artifact of under-reporting?" Dr. Hadisoemarto said to Al Jazeera.

Possible answers are being heard from numerous sources:

• Social media is touting the island's spirituality and mysticism while others believe the Island's “immunity” is proof of a global hoax created by governments and those that stand to haul in immense profits from a vaccination program once one is developed. Billionaire founder of Microsoft Bill Gates, who is a leader in the touting of vaccines as the best option against COVID-19, is often mentioned in these discussions.
• Gede Wanasari, head priest of the Indonesia Hinduism Society, told Al Jazeera that Bali was spared because of the good karma and prayers of the Balinese people. He referred 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.
• Another voice heard is Dr. Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist who has helped formulate Indonesia's Ministry of Health pandemic management strategy for 20 years. He believes the real number of COVID-19 in Bali is much higher than thought, due to a lack of testing and underreporting caused by cultural norms that encourage traditional healing at home.
• Dr. Budiman also blames misdiagnosis and said, "There is an extraordinarily high number of dengue cases in Bali right now — more than 2,100 cases — and I believe that is because testing for dengue is easier, cheaper and faster than testing for COVID-19." Dengue fever is a disease spread by mosquitoes.
• Dr. Hadisoemarto offers two possible answers. "Either there is no transmission in Bali, or the transmission is silent because people are getting infected but most of them are asymptomatic. He hinted that genetics and the tropical climate could play a role in the health of the island’s inhabitants. Other factors could be the relatively young age of the Balinese people.

Other people are not looking for reasons why some people fall ill to COVID-19 and others do not. They are seeking the lessons to be learned from Bali that will benefit future times.

A BBC Nature article published on May 1 was about the practice of Nyepi, the island’s New Year’s Day, also called “Silent Day” when Balinese people stay quietly in their homes for 24 hours and reflect on the year gone by and get ready for the one to come.

In the article, Garrett Kam, a 30-year resident of South-East Asia and the only non-Balinese ritual assistant at Pura Samuan Tiga Temple in Bedulu, Gianyar, says, “Every temple ceremony in Bali is preceded by caru (demon-appeasing sacrifices) so that their malevolent desires are satisfied and they become benevolent deities.”

There is certainly something to be learned from 24 hours of quiet with family but outside of Bali, people are wondering if those lessons can be applied to a two-month lockdown.