For our part, I  hope all of us anticipate (family clusters of COVID-19 transmission) since we will have long holidays at the end of this month.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has cautioned that the long holiday at the end of this month could potentially create new family clusters of COVID-19 transmission in the capital.

"For our part, I hope all of us anticipate (family clusters of COVID-19 transmission) since we will have long holidays at the end of this month," he said here on Saturday.

The results of an analysis have indicated that a spike in the spread of COVID-19 in early September, 2020 had something to do with the long holidays in August, he observed.

This month, the holiday marking the birthday of Prophet Muhammad, locally known as Maulid Nabi, on Thursday (October 29, 2020) will coincide with collective leaves on Wednesday (October 28) and Friday (October 30), he said.

"We will have collective leaves on Wednesday and Friday. In total, we will have five holidays. We call on all residents (of Jakarta) to avoid creating a spike in family clusters due to the collective holidays," he added.

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The Jakarta administration has implemented a stringent large-scale social restriction (PSBB) policy until October 11, 2020.

The PSBB policy restricts the number of employees working in offices to up to 25 percent and bans restaurants and food stalls from serving dine-in customers to curb COVID-19 transmission.

The Indonesian capital has reported 972 additional coronavirus infections as of Friday, which have taken the city’s total case count to 84,364.

According to the Task Force for COVID-19 Response, among the 34 provinces in the country, Jakarta is still leading in the number of new cases, with 1,259 cases reported on Saturday (October 10, 2020), followed by Central Java with 410 cases, East Java with 310 cases, West Java with 268 cases, and West Sumatra with 245 cases.

However, Jakarta has also recorded the highest recovery rate of 1,282, followed by West Java (378), East Java (305), and Central Java (270).

The highest number of deaths have been recorded in Central Java (17), followed by Jakarta (16), and West Java (10) on Saturday.

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Translator: Taufik R/Ricky P/Suharto
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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