VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jayapura District's COVID-19 Task Force Spokesman Khairul. (ANTARA/HO-Jayapura District's Task Force for Acceleration of COVID-19 Handling)

The COVID-19 recoveries in Jayapura District, Papua Province, has increased from 163 to 181 people after 15 inpatients were confirmed to have fully recovered from the novel coronavirus disease on Saturday, according to the district's COVID-19 task force.

The 15 recovered patients had been discharged from a local hospital but they remain required to avoid crowds and practice preventive measures mandated in the government's health protocols, the task force's spokesman, Khairul, said in Sentani,Papua, Sunday.

The recovered patients had reunited with their respective families, he said, adding that as of Sunday, 91 COVID-19 patients are still hospitalized in the district, while the number of suspected COVID-19 cases was recorded at 1,096.

Some 2,413 other people have taken swab tests, and they currently wait for the resting results, he added.

Coronavirus infections initially surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019.

Since then, COVID-19 has spread to over 215 countries and territories, including 34 provinces of Indonesia, with a massive spurt in death toll.

Papua is one of the Indonesian provinces which has been striving to flatten the coronavirus curve.

In the wake of this pandemic situation, several khateebs of mosques in Indonesia holding the Idul Adha mass prayers on Friday reminded worshippers to support the government's endeavor to flatten the COVID-19 curve and to revive the country's economy.

The khateeb of Al Mujtahidin Mosque in the Abepura neighborhood of Jayapura City, Papua Province, also urged his Idul Adha mass prayer worshippers to pray for the Indonesian government's success in fighting the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Idul Adha festivity is expected to offer a momentum to drive our government's spirit to fight the novel coronavirus disease," according to Abdul Azis, a Muslim preacher, who became the khateeb of the Idul Adha mass prayers at the mosque on Friday morning.

As of August 1, 2020, Indonesia recorded 1,560 fresh cases, while 2,012 people recovered from the coronavirus disease, according to the COVID-19 Handling Task Force.

The country's tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 109,936, including a total of 67,919 recoveries since President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) made an announcement of Indonesia's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.

The number of people succumbing to COVID-19 surged by 62, thereby bringing the death toll to 5,193.

A total of 11,190 specimens from 9,355 people were examined at 320 laboratories across Indonesia on Saturday noon, thereby bringing the total number of specimens examined to 1,517,381 from 875,894 people. (ANTARA)