In its place, local enterprises should employ local workers to halt the spread of new clusters of COVID-19 cases in the province, Riau Governor Syamsuar noted in a statement received by ANTARA in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau Province, on Wednesday.
The Riau provincial government has been striving to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases that again rose this week owing to poor awareness among several people coming from red zones to implement health protocols coupled with dishonesty on their part to come clean about their health condition.
"This situation has been exacerbated by the recruitment of workers from outside Riau and red zones by several local companies. Consequently, Riau has recorded 38 new COVID-19 cases as of July 22," Riau Governor Syamsuar noted.
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The 38 new confirmed coronavirus cases were the biggest single-day record, thereby increasing Riau's total number of COVID-19 cases, from 310 on July 21 to 348 on July 22, he pointed out.
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 major spike in death toll.
The Indonesian government officially confirmed the country's first cases on March 2 this year, and Jakarta had also become the epicenter of the virus, thereby undeniably triggering a huge disaster in human history that has led to a global economic crisis.
As of July 20, Indonesia recorded 1,576 new recoveries, bringing the total number of people having recovered from COVID-19 in the country so far to 46,977.
"Once again, workplaces, offices, or industries (factories), we beg (you) to really be able to create a safe working atmosphere (in view) of COVID-19," Achmad Yurianto, the government spokesperson for COVID-19 response, revealed early this week.
Based on data compiled as of Monday noon (July 20, 2020), Indonesia had recorded 1,693 fresh COVID-19 infections, bringing the total case tally to 88,214. Meanwhile, 96 people had succumbed to the virus, taking the death toll to 4,239.
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Translator: Frislidia, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
