Jakarta (ANTARA) - The handling of COVID-19 in Indonesia has been praised as one of the best in the world as the nation has successfully reduced the number of cases to minus 58 percent in two weeks, a Health Ministry official has said.

"Citing one of the publications from the ourworld.org website, data from John Hopkins University, the last updated data on September 12 (2021) has stated that the handling of COVID-19 in Indonesia is praised as one of the best in the world," spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccinations at the ministry, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, informed while delivering the PPKM Press Release here on Wednesday.

Tarmizi said the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia has begun to show good results, especially with the number of cases declining to minus 58 percent within two weeks.

The number of daily positive cases in Indonesia has fallen dramatically compared to the recent spike in cases, she said.

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"On September 13, 2021, we even recorded the lowest daily case finding number since May 2021, which was 2,577 people," she informed.

Although daily cases have decreased, Tarmizi advised the public to continue to remain disciplined in implementing the health protocols and immediately schedule a vaccination.

"Of course, we do not want to be careless, so we will not face a surge in COVID-19 cases again. We have also continued to take anticipatory measures so that no new variant of COVID-19 enters the country by tightening supervision at the entry points to Indonesia," she said.

According to Tarmizi, one of the anticipatory measures is the requirement for foreign travelers to carry out PCR tests and quarantine for eight days.

During the quarantine period, the spokesperson said, a second PCR test is carried out after the seventh day of arrival to ensure foreign travelers' COVID-19 status.

"The Health Ministry appeals to all parties related to supervision at the entrance of this country to coordinate well and tighten guard and supervision in order to protect all of our people from being exposed to the new variant of the COVID-19 virus, which transmits faster and is, of course, more difficult to control," she added.

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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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