VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Government spokesperson for COVID-19 handling, Achmad Yurianto. (ANTARA))

Some 231 COVID-19 patients in Indonesia recovered in the past 24 hours, thereby taking the total count of recoveries to 3,518 out of 16,006 confirmed coronavirus cases, as of Thursday afternoon, a government spokesman remarked.

"The number of patients dying of the disease reached 1,043, while the number of patients under surveillance (PDPs) touched 33,672, and people under surveillance (ODP) reached 258,639," Achmad Yurianto, government spokesperson for COVID-19 handling, stated at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Building in Jakarta on Thursday.

Based on data from each province in the country, most ODPs and PDPs were monitored. Some of the PDPs were monitored and tested negative for COVID-19, he remarked. In comparison with the previous day, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths increased on Thursday. Indonesia recorded 568 new cases and 15 deaths as of Thursday afternoon.

In response to the surge in the number of new cases on Thursday, he noted that the number of new cases in provinces having a large test gap will rise rapidly.

Citing an example, Yurianto noted that Southeast Sulawesi had recorded 91 more new cases on Wednesday. The samples originally planned to be sent to the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar were checked in the province. Hence, as a consequence, Southeast Sulawesi recorded no new cases on Thursday.

Yurianto remarked that the COVID-19 pandemic had spread to all 34 Indonesian provinces, while the number of affected districts and municipalities rose by three to reach 382 as compared to the previous day.

As of Thursday, the health authorities had tested 173,690 swab samples. The swab testing is a combination of the polymerase chain reaction or PCR method and rapid test methods.(ANTARA)