Indonesia reports 3,779 new Covid19 cases, 188 new deaths - govt easing measures de to lower infections

Photo courtesy of Jakarta Post/ANN

JAKARTA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua): The number of Covid-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 3,779 in the past 24 hours to 4,167,511, with the death toll adding by 188 to 138,889, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.

According to the ministry, 9,401 more COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recoveries from the pandemic in the Southeast Asian country to 3,918,753.

To date, at least 41.73 million people in Indonesia have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and 72.76 million have taken their first shot, the ministry said.

After breathing a sigh of relief from the second wave of Covid-19 transmission, Indonesia is now preparing for the transition from pandemic to endemic.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Friday (Sept 10) while monitoring Covid-19 vaccination at a school for the disabled in the province of Yogyakarta that Covid-19 would not go away anytime shortly.

"We must prepare for that transition and learn to live together with Covid-19," Widodo said.

In late June to early August, the Southeast Asian country faced a spike in Covid-19 transmissions triggered by the more contagious Delta variant.

The Covid-19 Task Force recorded that the biggest number of daily cases of 56,757 was recorded on July 15 and the highest death toll of 2,068 happened on July 27.

But the downward trend in daily new cases and death started to appear since mid-August. On Sept. 12, the newly-confirmed daily cases were recorded at 3,779, with 188 deaths.

The government has begun to relax the public mobility restrictions, locally known as PPKM, and economic activities such as shopping centers and offices have resumed operations with limited capacity and operating hours to prevent further transmission.

During the transition from pandemic to endemic, people could return to their activities according to the PPKM level in their respective regions, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Friday (Sept 10).