VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia’s daily COVID-19 cases spiked to a record 11,557 infections on Thursday, taking the total tally to 869,600, according to data from the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling.

With 7,741 people recovering from the virus in 24 hours, the total recoveries reached 711,205. Meanwhile, 295 people succumbed to the virus, taking the death toll to 25,246, the task force reported.

At present, Indonesia has 133,149 active cases, or patients undergoing independent care and isolation after being confirmed to have contracted the virus. Moreover, 64,032 people have been categorized as suspected COVID-19 patients.

In the last 24 hours, 70,376 specimens from 46,097 people have been examined in 566 laboratories across Indonesia, bringing the total number of examined specimens to 8,133,444 from 5,426,234. The first two cases of COVID-19 surfaced in the country on March 2, 2020.

According to the task force, the country's COVID-19 positivity rate has reached 16 percent.

Provinces reporting the highest number of new cases on Thursday included Jakarta, with 3,165 cases; followed by West Java (2,202); Central Java (1,497); East Java (981); and, South Sulawesi (640).

Earlier, Doni Monardo, head of the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling as well as the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), had said that the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia have shot up significantly over the past 2.5 months.

"Last November, our active cases were the lowest at 12.2 percent, and cumulatively, 54 thousand people (were infected). However, today or yesterday, the number of our active cases reached 123 thousand. This indicates an over twofold increase, or to be precise 122 percent," Monardo remarked while welcoming the arrival of 15 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine from China at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, Banten province.

Indonesia commenced its COVID-19 vaccination program on Wednesday (January 13, 2021), with President Joko Widodo receiving the first shot of the Sinovac vaccine.

In the meantime, to counter a spike in COVID-19 cases, Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto has announced a tightening of restrictions in specific areas in all six provinces on Java Island and Bali province from January 11 to January 25, 2021.

"Limited restrictions are applied in the Java-Bali provinces, as the provinces meet one of the four set parameters," Hartarto said during an online press conference here on Wednesday.

Restrictions are being tightened in Jakarta and adjoining areas, including Bogor City, Bogor district, Depok, Bekasi City, and Bekasi’s districts, the minister noted, as well as partly in Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Yogyakarta, and Bali provinces. (Antaranews)