Jakarta (ANTARA) - Confirmed daily cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia rose by 189, with Jakarta recording the highest count of new cases, reaching 53, on Thursday, as of 12 p.m. local time, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force confirmed.

Based on data of the COVID-19 Task Force received here on Thursday, the second highest count of confirmed daily cases was recorded in West Papua at 29 cases, followed by East Java, 19 cases; Central Java, 17 cases; and West Java, 16 cases.

In total, the number of confirmed cases since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in Indonesia reached 4,262,540.

The number of people recovering daily increased by 399. The highest daily recovery count was recorded in West Papua reaching 252 people, followed by 34 people in Jakarta, 32 people in Central Java, and 19 people in West Java. With the addition of 399 recovered patients, the total recovery count reached 4,114,141.

Meanwhile, the national death count increased by seven comprising two in East Java and one each in Central Java, Bali, West Sumatra, West Nusa Tenggara, and Riau. In total, the COVID-19 death count reached 144,088 people since March 2020.

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Furthermore, the number of active cases declined by 217 people, thereby bringing the total to 4,311 active cases. However, 4,059 people were declared as suspects, and 229,759 specimens had been examined.

The COVID-19 Task Force's Head of Health Handling, Alexander K. Ginting, stated that the posts of public activities restrictions (PPKM) at the village level should encourage the application of health protocols in the community.

"By activating micro-scale PPKM posts, we can tackle Omicron, so it does not enter our villages, neighborhood units (RT), or hamlets (RW)," Ginting emphasized.

He accentuated that village-level PPKM posts should push the implementation of health protocols to prevent the surfacing of new clusters due to ignorant behavior in families and communities, as the pandemic is still under control.

Such efforts can also prevent the emergence of the Omicron variant that has a rapid transmission ability and can increase hospitalization capacity despite its mild symptoms.
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Translator: Asep F, Kenzu T
Editor: Suharto
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