The current cases in Jakarta have been at their peak and will soon decline, while cases in Banten, West Java, and Bali will reach their peak soon and then declineJakarta (ANTARA) - The daily count of COVID-19 cases in six provinces had surpassed the daily cases logged during the peak of the COVID-19 Delta variant that plagued the country last year, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated.
"We have six provinces and 37 cities and districts, with current daily cases surpassing the Delta variant peak. Those provinces are Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, and Papua," Sadikin noted during a press conference on activities restriction enforcement (PPKM) observed online in Jakarta on Monday.
Despite the record daily cases, the hospital bed occupancy rate in the regions had been low as compared to the occupancy rate during the Delta variant peak, he remarked.
"Around 27 thousand hospital beds are currently occupied by active cases that require hospitalisation. With our current capacity of 120 thousand isolation beds, the current occupancy rate is only at 22-23 percent, and we still have some 90 thousand available hospital beds," Sadikin pointed out.
During the press conference, the minister also reminded other regions to be cautious over the likelihood of a COVID-19 case surge in the region, as the authority has forecast a shift in terms of a case surge to other regions after active cases in the six provinces started declining.
"The current cases in Jakarta have been at their peak and will soon decline, while cases in Banten, West Java, and Bali will reach their peak soon and then decline. We forecast that the surge in cases will shift to other provinces, such as East Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, and provinces outside Java Island," Sadikin stated.
He encouraged provincial authorities to boost vaccination drives in the respective regions to help residents brave a potential case surge.
"(If residents have all been vaccinated), they will not require hospitalisation if they become infected with the Omicron variant," the minister remarked.
Sadikin highlighted that currently, only seven provinces had logged a 70-percent vaccination coverage among its residents, and only Jakarta, Bali, Yogyakarta, and Riau Islands had vaccinated over 70 percent of its elderly population.
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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Sri Haryati
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