TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Health Agency reported a total of 344 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, July 8, 2020.

“Of the number, 51 Indonesian citizens just arrived from abroad and are put under isolation in the capital city,” said Jakarta Health Agency Head Widyastuti in a press conference broadcasted live via the city’s Youtube channel today.

This latest report is an all-time daily high since the implementation of the relaxed Covid-19 restrictions, locally known as transitional PSBB (large-scale social restriction). The previous record was noted on July 5, 2020, with 256 cases. Meanwhile on other days, the average daily increase was 150-200 infections.

She explained several factors causing the surge in new cases. “First, many Indonesians return home from abroad, and their addresses are in a variety of provinces.”

Secondly, there is a laboratory of Jakarta hospital that has just reported 36 previous cases. The hospital had examined PCR tests of 36 patients for the past month, yet the report was submitted today.

The third factor that contributed to the highest record of new daily cases thus far was that the Jakarta administration was actively tracking cases and found new infections from the effort.

“The findings of new cases from hospitals and community health centers (Puskesmas), either from new patients or contact tracing and active case finding amounted to 257 people,” Widyastuti said.

As of Wednesday, July 8, Jakarta has 13,069 COVID-19 cases, with 8,424 recoveries and 667 fatalities.

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LANI DIANA WIJAYA