Overall, it is relatively good compared to that of other countries
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government is planning to make booster vaccination a prerequisite for crowd-drawing events, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto has informed.

The development of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia is relatively good, he said at a press conference following a limited meeting at the Presidential Office on the evaluation of micro-scale activity restrictions (PPKM) in Jakarta on Monday.

"Overall, it is relatively good compared to that of other countries. Our daily (COVID-19) cases have reached 574. This is compared to 16 thousand in Australia, 8,500 in India, 3,100 in Singapore, 2,400 in Thailand, and 1,700 in Malaysia," he noted.

He said the effective case reproduction in Indonesia is relatively stable at 1. The effective reproductive number has been recorded at 1 in Bali, Java, and Sumatra; 0.99 in Nusa Tenggara, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua; and 0.98 in Maluku.

"The national recovery rate is 97 percent and the mortality rate is 2.58 percent. The cases have mostly resulted from local transmission, while nearly 25 cases have come from international travelers," he said.

The bed occupancy rate and COVID-19 caseload are also relatively low, with the highest rate recorded in North Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan, he informed.

Only Papua and West Papua have recorded first-dose vaccination coverage of below 70 percent. The second-dose vaccination coverage in 17 provinces has exceeded 70 percent, and in 10 provinces, it is below 70 percent. Overall, relatively low or below 50 percent vaccination coverage has been recorded in Maluku, Papua, and West Papua.

Therefore, President Joko Widodo has called for efforts to increase the third-dose vaccination coverage by making it a prerequisite for holding crowd-drawing events, such as sports events, music concerts, and art shows, Hartarto said.

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Translator: Kuntum Khaira Riswan, Suharto
Editor: Sri Haryati
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