“There are 17 clusters that emerged from religious events and places of worship clusters with 236 [confirmed] cases in total,” said the taskforce’s data and information technology head, Dewi Nur Aisyah, as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday.

Dewi therefore stressed the need to observe the COVID-19 health protocols of mask wearing, hand washing with soap and physical distancing at all times, especially at public facilities and events.

She added that cluster infections typically emerged during large religious events like takziah (comforting the bereaved in Islam) and tahlilan (communal prayer), and noted that the emergence of clusters was more common during takziah than during tahlilan.

“As of now, we have detected five clusters from takziah events in Jakarta, and only two [clusters] from tahlilan events. The total number of cases is 69,” said Dewi.

She also reminded the public to remain alert when attending funerals, even funerals for people who had died of other causes unrelated to COVID-19, but to keep in mind that 60 percent to 80 percent of people infected with the coronavirus were asymptomatic or showed only mild symptoms.

Jakarta has recorded at least 85 new cases linked to the series of public gatherings held on Nov. 10 to mark the repatriation of Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shibab.