VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has confirmed that the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in Indonesia has shown an increase in the last two weeks.

"We have observed that there have been 105 districts/cities across 34 provinces in Indonesia which have started to show a rise in COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks," he said at a press conference on ‘Evaluation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM)’, which was streamed on the Coordinating Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Investment's YouTube channel on Monday.

Since July 2021, the number of positive COVID-19 cases in all regions in Indonesia had tended to decline, he noted.

However, recently, infections have increased again, but fortunately, they are still within the safe limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO), the minister said.

“Still, we are trying to anticipate it. We should not be euphoric excessively due to the decline and let our guard down. We will strive to control the rise in those 105 districts/cities," he emphasized.

Indonesia added 460 COVID-19 confirmed cases and 30 deaths on Monday, taking the total confirmed cases to more than 4.2 million and the total deaths to more than 143 thousand.

"However, we find that several European countries are also experiencing an increase (in coronavirus infections)," the minister informed.

Hence, the ministry will continue to strengthen precautionary steps to anticipate the next wave of COVID-19 through the enforcement of PPKM, tracking and testing of patients’ close contacts, and surveillance of the new SARS-CoV-2 variant, he said.

"We have been aware that there is a new worrying variant called AY.4.2 spreading in the United Kingdom. It has not entered Indonesia yet. However, we will continue to monitor its development,” he added. (Antaranews)