The total number currently reaches 172, while the death toll remains unchanged at five.Jakarta (ANTARA) - The number of coronavirus (COVID-19) positive cases in Indonesia has burgeoned to 172 as of Tuesday evening of March 17.
"The total number currently reaches 172, while the death toll remains unchanged at five," Achmad Yurianto, the government’s spokesman for the handling of COVID-19, stated at a press conference along with the COVID-19 Quick Handling Task Force at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Office in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Yurianto pointed to most of the newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 coming from Jakarta, followed by East Java, Central Java, and Riau Islands.
In general, the condition of COVID-19 patients undergoing treatment at hospitals is improving, he remarked, adding that nine of them had recovered and can return home.
Several patients are awaiting the second round of checkup to substantiate recovery from the disease. If they have recovered, they can return home, he stated.
"In the first round of checkups yesterday and today, they tested negative for (coronavirus). Now, we just await an interval of two days to conduct another round of checkups. If the result comes negative, then they can be discharged from the hospitals," he revealed.
Yurianto confirmed that the number of COVID-19 patients began to soar significantly on Sunday (March 15), with the number of those testing positive for the virus standing at 134.
The figure increased by 12 to reach 146 on Monday (March 16) and climbed up further to 172 on Tuesday (March 17). However, death toll from the coronavirus outbreak remained unchanged at five until March 17.
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Translator: Anom Prihantoro/Suharto
Editor: Sri Haryati
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