Jakarta (ANTARA) - The number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 1,678 on Saturday, with Jakarta recording the highest number of new cases at 577, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force reported.
With the additional cases, the total number of infections in Indonesia since the first case was confirmed in the country in March 2020 has touched 6,455,542, according to the task force.
After Jakarta, the provinces that recorded the most new infections on Saturday were West Java (261 cases), East Java (193 cases), Banten (165 cases), and Central Java (115 cases).
Currently, the number of active cases stands at 17,261, the task force reported.
Moreover, the number of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 increased by 1,867 on Saturday, taking the total tally to 6,279,326.
The provinces that recorded the highest recoveries were Banten (654), Jakarta (578), East Java (188), and West Java (183).
The task force also reported that 20 patients succumbed to the virus on Saturday: 7 from Central Java, 3 from East Java, 2 from Jakarta, 2 from South Sulawesi, and 1 each from West Java, Jambi, Riau, Aceh, Bangka Belitung, and Lampung.
With the new fatalities, the overall death toll reached 158,301.
Further, as many as 3,794 people were listed in the suspected category as of Saturday based on tests conducted on 48,435 specimens in laboratories across the country.
Earlier, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said he is optimistic that Indonesia will be able to put an end to the pandemic if there is no spike in cases until February 2023.
"Hopefully, what we are doing (implementing the health protocols and conducting vaccinations) can continue to maintain (the subsiding condition of the pandemic in) Indonesia (to) stay like this," the minister remarked during a "Chat on G20 Health" discussion on Thursday.
Sadikin explained that if Indonesia can go through the December 2022–February 2023 period with a declining COVID-19 case count, then it would become a country that has recorded no surge in infections for a period of 12 months.
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