TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Health Agency head Widyastuti said the number of COVID-19 cases in the capital city continued to increase in the last two weeks.

“We have started to record a daily increase. There has been an increase of 200 cases per day. We are worried that it will continue to rise,” said Widyastuti in an online discussion on Friday, April 16, 2021.

In March 2021, the trend of active cases declined compared to the January-February 2021 period that reached 25,000 active cases. At present, the capital has 6,988 active cases.

“This means that it (the trend) is much lower than the previous period. Of course, we should not lower our guard because in the last two weeks there may have been an increase,” she underlined.

The increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases has occurred due to many factors. One of them is the testing capacity that reached 68,000 specimens per day. This figure is above the WHO standards, but still below the city’s record of 90,000 specimens tested per day.

“Our laboratory is capable of testing more than 100,000 specimens per day but it is only around 68,000. Why? Because of the central government’s policy that it must be through a rapid antigen test,” Widyastuti said.

Read: Task Force Reports Increasing Number of COVID-19 Red Zones in Indonesia

IMAM HAMDI