Today, we inoculate 20 thousand residentsJakarta (ANTARA) - The Jakarta metropolitan police set a target of vaccinating 20 thousand residents on Monday to tackle a new wave of infections in the capital city following the recent Eid al-Fitr holiday season.
The mass vaccination drives took place in 100 venues, including the Sasana Pakarti meeting hall in Duren Tiga neighborhood, South Jakarta.
"Today, we inoculate 20 thousand residents," head of the National Police Hospital, Brig.Gen.Asep Hendradiana, said while monitoring a mass vaccination drive in Duren Tiga.
The vaccination drives were open to Jakartans as well as people from other cities working in Jakarta aged 18 or older, he said.
The recipients of the shots included public figures. One of them was Indira Soediro, Miss Universe Indonesia 1992.
"I appeal to the people at large to keep supporting the government's vaccination program by getting vaccinated to protect themselves and others,” she said.
On Sunday evening, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan had attributed the recent spike in coronavirus infections in the capital city to the Eid al-Fitr holidays.
"A new spike (in COVID-19 cases) has been felt recently, but it occurred not only in Jakarta, but also in the rest of Indonesia," he noted.
The number of COVID-19 cases climbed to 17,400 on June 11, 2021 from 11,500 on June 6, 2021 — reflecting a 50-percent increase.
The COVID-19 positivity rate also increased to 17 percent on Sunday from 9 percent a week earlier.
"The number of new cases increased in each of the past four days by 2,000, 2,300, 2,400, and 2,700 today," Baswedan disclosed.
The number of specimens tested at laboratories also rose eight-fold, as against the WHO standard of a four-fold increase.
Coronavirus infections initially surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019 and thereafter spread across the world, including to countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Indonesia announced its first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.
Since then, the central and regional governments have worked incessantly to flatten the coronavirus curve through the imposition of health protocols and social restrictions.
To contain the transmission of COVID-19, which has shrunk the purchasing power of Indonesian families, the government also banned homebound travel, or "mudik," before the Eid al-Fitr holiday season for two successive years.
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Despite this year's ban, COVID-19 cases in Indonesia could peak by mid-June on account of people participating in Eid al-Fitr festivities, Vice Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono has said.
Currently, Indonesia's total COVID-19 case count exceeds 1.9 million.
As part of efforts to tackle the pandemic, which has acutely impacted public health and the economy, the Indonesian government unveiled a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021 to contain infections.
The Indonesian Health Ministry is targeting to vaccinate 181.5 million people to build herd immunity against the virus, a task projected to take about 15 months.
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Translator: Dewa KSW, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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