TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
COVID-19: Indonesia records 330 new cases as it boosts PCR testing
According to the Health Ministry website, only 19,452 tests have been conducted in the country as of Saturday.
Change Size
A medical worker checks the swab testing equipment for COVID-19 at the Pertamina Jaya Hospital Laboratory in Cempaka Putih, East Jakarta, on April 6. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
I
ndonesia announced 330 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the total number of registered infections to 3,842 as the country boosts testing through the real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to almost 2,000 samples a day.
“To date, we’ve tested almost 20,000 samples in 40 labs across the country,” the ministry’s disease control and prevention director general, Achmad Yurianto, who is also the government’s spokesperson for COVID-19, said in the ministry’s daily press briefing on Saturday.
The Health Ministry website says 19,452 tests have been conducted as of Saturday. The government started to distribute new PCR test kits to 12 provinces on Thursday, following orders from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to conduct more swab tests as the previous rapid testing was deemed insufficiently effective in detecting cases.
Yurianto added that 21 more people had died of the disease, bringing the total death toll to 327.
All 34 provinces have reported cases, with North Kalimantan, Southeast Sulawesi and West Sulawesi reported their first COVID-19 deaths with one fatality respectively. West Nusa Tenggara reported the first two deaths of COVID-19.
Jakarta remains the hardest-hit province with 1,948 infections and 159 fatalities.
Meanwhile, the number of recovered patients has increased to 286 nationwide.
