TheJakartaPost
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Jakarta feels COVID-19 pinch as calls grow to tighten curbs
Health experts are calling on the government to tighten public restrictions in Greater Jakarta amid growing complacency as COVID-19 numbers continue to rise.
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Youths hang out on July 14, 2022 at a park near the Dukuh Atas MRT station in Central Jakarta. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)
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The capital, currently under the lowest level of the four-tier public activity restrictions (PPKM), is seeing a concerning increase in new cases fueled by the fast-spreading Omicron subvariants BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2.75.
Since the fourth and latest coronavirus wave started at the beginning of June, Jakarta has been steadily contributing roughly 50 percent of all new cases detected nationwide. Some 23,000 out of the country’s 46,000 active cases had been reported in the capital as of July 27 and it reported 3,279 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday alone, the highest since March 10.
The nation’s weekly figure has increased around 25 percent from 14,700 to 18,500 cases.
Meanwhile, the positivity rate for the capital has increased more than threefold in the past month to 17 percent, more than triple the 5 percent threshold of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Although the Omicron subvariants are reportedly less likely to make people sick or cause severe illness, hospitalization for COVID-19 has steadily risen across the capital. The bed occupancy rate has increased 45 percent over the past month to 12 percent, nearly three times the national average of 4.6 percent.
