Indonesia’s Covid-19 Cases Surge Past the 2 Million Mark

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Covid-19 continues to tighten its grip on Indonesia, as the number of Indonesians affected by the pandemic shot up to more than 2 million people.

The surge came following an increase in the number of daily cases, deaths, as well as those who are hospitalized by Covid-19.

The country’s Covid-19 Task Force noted that the number of cases stands at 2,004,445 people over a 24-hour period to Monday, June 21.

“The daily number of cases reached 14,536, which is the highest to be detected over a 24 hour period since President Joko Widodo confirmed the first [Covid-19] case on March 2, 2020 ,” the Task Force said to the media.

Also read: Indonesia's Daily Covid-19 Cases Approach 10 Thousand

The daily case number broke the previous number of 14,518 cases on January 30.

On the other hand, “294 people died [of Covid-19], bringing the number of fatalities up to 54,956, while the number of Covid-19 patients who recovered stands at 1,801,7761,” the Task Force noted.

“The number of active Covid-19 cases now stand at 147,728, while another 124,845 are listed as suspected Covid-19 cases.”

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo admitted that the unprecedented explosion in case numbers forced the government to redouble its efforts to mitigate Covid-19.

DOK. UAJY A mass vaccination at the Yogyakarta campus of Atma Jaya University, Thursday, (15/4/2021).

“Aside from applying Micro-Scale Restriction of Community Activities [PPKM], we will also step up mass vaccinations against Covid-19,” he said.

“We have vaccinated an average of 716 thousand people on a daily basis. We are targeting one million vaccinations against Covid-19 to reach herd immunity against the pandemic.”

President Jokowi added that Indonesia has procured 104,728,400 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Sinovac, AstraZeneca, and Sinopharm. “The number of vaccines are part of the nearly 427 million doses that we secured from bilateral and multilateral diplomacy.”

Also read: Covid-19 Cases Surge in 10 Indonesian Provinces

However, he reminded the country that the best defense against Covid-19 is still compliance with health protocols, such as wearing masks, washing hands, and maintaining social distancing.

The Task Force confirmed that Covid-19 has been detected in 510 regencies and cities throughout Indonesia’s 34 provinces, or 99 percent of Indonesian territory.

The current surge in Covid-19 numbers is attributed to millions of people heading back to their hometowns during the Eid al-Fitr or Idul Fitri Islamic holidays last May, in defiance of a government ban on the annual practice.

(Writers: Haryanti Puspa Sari, Dian Erika Nugraheny | Editors: Bayu Galih, Icha Rastika)

Sources: 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/06/21/16505191/update-tambah-14536-orang-kasus-covid-19-indonesia-lewati-2-juta?page=all#page2. 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/06/21/19445761/jokowi-lonjakan-kasus-covid-19-bikin-kita-harus-bekerja-lebih-keras?page=all#page2.