The new sub-variants, XBB and BQ.1, have 25 percent of the proportion of cases. Later, it can shift as the previous variantJakarta (ANTARA) - The number of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indonesia increased by 6,699 on Friday, taking the total number of cases reported in the country since March 2020 to 6,596,812, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force reported.
As per data from the task force, Indonesia recorded 5,854 additional recoveries on Friday, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 6,376,205. Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients who succumbed to the virus increased by 32 to reach 159,323.
The province that contributed the most additional cases on Friday was Jakarta (2,798 cases), followed by West Java (1,239 cases), Banten (722 cases), East Java (656 cases), and Central Java (364 cases).
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In addition, the number of active cases increased by 813 on Friday. The number of active cases reflects the number of patients who are still undergoing quarantine or treatment for the SARS-CoV-2 type coronavirus.
Though the government has relaxed several restrictions that it had imposed to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, it has continued to carry out efforts to prevent and control the spread of the disease, including vaccinations.
The government has urged citizens to take the third or booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to increase their immunity against the virus.
According to Health Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril, Omicron’s XBB and BQ.1 sub-variants have begun to dominate COVID-19 cases in Indonesia.
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"The new sub-variants, XBB and BQ.1, have 25 percent of the proportion of cases. Later, it can shift as the previous variant," he informed.
Based on a report from the Health Ministry, the new variants were detected for the first time in Indonesia on September 25, 2022, with 37 cases of XBB and 50 cases of BQ.1 recorded as of September 30.
The cases were detected in 10 provinces of Indonesia: Bali, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, West Kalimantan, Babel Islands, Lampung, North Sumatra, and Riau.
In the past month, hospitals have received around 10 thousand patients, with 5 percent of them treated in the intensive care unit and the rest treated in wards, Syahril added.
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Translator: Asep Firmansyah, Resinta S
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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