The Indonesian Health Ministry today announced the highest single-day increase in the country’s official COVID-19 count to date with 1,043 new cases, as the government begins to loosen social restrictions in transition to the so-called “new normal.”
Achmad Yurianto, spokesperson for the COVID-19-related matters in Indonesia, said during his daily press briefing that Jakarta recorded the highest number of new daily cases across the country with 232, followed by East Java with 220.
Indonesia, which has been struggling with low testing capacity, also managed to test more than 16,000 specimens yesterday.
The latest spike in Jakarta is also the capital’s biggest daily jump so far, only less than a week since the city entered the “transition period” of the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) protocol, which meant that some public and business activities are gradually resuming their operations at half capacity while following specified protocols.
Related – Jakarta enters ‘transitional phase’ of PSBB partial lockdown protocol
It is not immediately clear if the latest official update will be met with a new shift in the country’s official approach amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as the central government and a number of regional administrations have begun to ease restrictions and allowed public activities to restart.
Jakarta, which entered the transitional phase of PSBB on Friday, started with the reopening of houses of worship and outdoor sport facilities, which, for instance, saw thousands of people turning up at the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) sports complex over the weekend.
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