"Weekly positive cases this week were recorded at more than 38 thousand, very high in comparison to the beginning of June 2022, which was only 2 thousand cases," Adisasmito said while issuing a press statement on the development of COVID-19 handling, which was accessed on the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s YouTube Channel from here on Thursday.
Along with the rise in positive cases, there has also been an uptick in deaths, though it has not been as significant as the increase in positive cases, he added.
In the past week, the country has recorded 91 deaths, a huge increase compared to the previous week, when the death toll stood at 40. In fact, recently, the death toll has exceeded 20 per day.
This week, five provinces have contributed the most weekly positive cases, and they are different from the ones recorded in the previous week. South Kalimantan has contributed 610 cases to the total figure this week. The province ranks fifth after Jakarta (19 thousand cases), West Java (7 thousand), Banten (4 thousand), and East Java (2 thousand).
Related news: Jakarta's BOR at 22 percent amid rising COVID-19 cases: Official
Meanwhile, Jakarta has recorded the most deaths in a month at 29, followed by West Java with 11 deaths. The rest of the five provinces have reported less than 7 deaths.
"The bed occupancy rate of patients undergoing treatment in hospitals is starting to increase. Jakarta is the highest at 12.93 percent, South Kalimantan is at 12.79 percent, and Banten at 11.85 percent," he added.
The rate of COVID-19 transmission in Indonesia is relatively lower compared to four neighboring countries: Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Singapore, Adisasmito informed.
As of July 31, 2022, the number of weekly cases in Japan has reached more than 1 million, South Korea more than 500 thousand, Australia nearly 300 thousand, and Singapore 54 thousand.
Adisasmito urged citizens to follow the health protocols and get vaccinated to protect themselves against the risk of COVID-19 infection.
Related news: Map causes of increasing COVID cases, MPR Speaker tells govt
Related news: Exercise caution following surge in COVID-19 cases: Task Force
Translator: Andi Firdaus, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
