TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta provincial government has prepared 2,500 beds at the Nagrak low-cost apartments in Cilincing neighborhood of North Jakarta for COVID-19 patients.

The Nagrak apartments will only be used if the Wisma Atlet Kemayoran emergency hospital continues to receive new COVID-19 patients, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan informed on Monday.

At the moment, the Jakarta provincial administration is prioritizing the Wisma Atlet emergency hospital for receiving COVID-19 patients, he said.

"If the Nagrak apartments with more than 2,500 beds. At the moment, the COVID-19 patients remain concentrated at Wisma Atlet," he informed.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of his visit to Jakarta's Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) office, Baswedan urged Jakartans not to undermine the recent increase in COVID-19 cases.

He said he had contracted the infection earlier and had experienced discomfort when his condition worsened.

"Therefore, I appeal to all elements in society at large to keep raising their awareness about the fact that we all remain in the COVID-19 pandemic situation," he urged.

Anies Baswedan had earlier attributed the recent spike in coronavirus infections in the capital city to the Eid al-Fitr holidays.

"A new spike (in COVID-19 cases) has been felt recently, but it has occurred not only in Jakarta, but also in the rest of Indonesia," he noted on Sunday evening.

The number of COVID-19 cases rose to 17,400 on June 11, 2021 from 11,500 on June 6, 2021 — reflecting a 50 percent increase in infections, he said.

The COVID-19 positivity rate also increased to 17 percent on Sunday from 9 percent a week earlier.

"The number of new cases increased in each of the past four days by 2,000, 2,300, 2,400, and 2,700 today," he remarked.

The number of specimens tested at laboratories also rose eight-fold, as against the WHO prescribed four-fold increase.

Coronavirus infections initially surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019 and thereafter spread across the world, including to countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Indonesia announced its first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.

Since then, the central and regional governments have worked incessantly to flatten the coronavirus curve through the imposition of health protocols and social restrictions.

To contain the transmission of COVID-19, which has shrunk the purchasing power of Indonesian families, the government banned homebound travel, or "mudik," before the Eid al-Fitr holiday season last year and this year, too.

However, COVID-19 cases in Indonesia could peak by mid-June on account of this year's Eid al-Fitr festivities, according to Vice Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono.

Currently, Indonesia's total COVID-19 case count exceeds 1.9 million.

As part of efforts to tackle the pandemic, which has severely eroded public health and the economy, the Indonesian government launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021 to contain infections.

Overall, the Health Ministry is targeting to vaccinate 181.5 million people to build herd immunity against the virus, a task projected to take about 15 months.

Read: Govt Prepares Plans to Mitigate COVID-19 Surge Caused by New Strain

ANTARA