I am worried that we are entering the fourth wave.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia is entering the fourth wave of COVID-19 transmission, chief of the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) task force, Prof. Zubairi Djoerban, has predicted.

"I am worried that we are entering the fourth wave," he said in Jakarta on Thursday, pointing to the significant increase in daily COVID-19 cases in recent weeks

Indonesia’s daily COVID-19 caseload began to rise from July 2, 2022, when the number of cases was recorded at 1,794. Since then, the number of daily cases has shown an upward trend, he noted.

"There has been a significant increase in the number of new cases. There were 3,822 new cases with 12 deaths (on July 13),” he said.

The public must continue to comply with the health protocols and get the third vaccine dose soon in order to prevent COVID-19 transmission, he added.

However, he appealed to the public not to panic because the increase in COVID-19 infections in Indonesia has been lower than in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand.

He said he supports the government's call to the public to continue wearing masks while carrying out indoor and outdoor activities.

Indonesia's COVID-19 case tally swelled by 3,361 on Tuesday, taking the total count to 6,116,347, data from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force showed.

According to data from the task force received here on Tuesday, the provinces that recorded the most new cases were Jakarta, with 1,594 cases, followed by West Java, with 728 cases; Banten, with 393 cases; East Java, with 279 cases; and Bali, with 125 cases.

The task force’s data also showed that 1,780 COVID-19 patients recovered on Tuesday, taking the total number of recoveries to 5,937,625.

Meanwhile, the national COVID-19 death toll increased by 8 on Tuesday, taking the overall fatalities to 156,806.

On Tuesday, 21,916 active COVID-19 cases were recorded in the country—an increase of 1,573 compared to the previous day.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin advised people to continue wearing masks even though Indonesia's COVID-19 cases are still categorized as safe based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) standards.

"President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has appealed (to us to wear masks again). It is better for us to be careful amid the increase in cases," he said while promulgating Presidential Instruction Number 3 of 2022 in Jakarta on Tuesday.

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Translator: Anita Permata D, Suharto
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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