TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The number of COVID-19 in Jakarta today, August 2, plunged compared to the previous daily figure. In the last 24 hours, the city government detected 1,410 new confirmed cases.

The Jakarta Health Agency’s Head of Disease Prevention and Control Division, Dwi Oktavia, said the number was obtained by conducting examinations on 17,041 specimens.

“From which, 11,417 people were tested to diagnose new cases with 1,410 results turned back positive and 10,007 were negative,” said Dwi in a written statement on Monday, August 2. The statement was released a few hours prior to the central government's announcement on the extension of the level-based public mobility restrictions.

Today’s addition declined drastically compared to previous days that reached around 3,000-4,000 cases a day with more than 24,000 tests taken.

According to Dwi, the city also carried out antigen tests on 6,545 people, with 247 tests coming back positive and the rest 6,298 were negative.

Jakarta has now logged 818,764 positive cases since the onset of the pandemic last March. Today’s active cases dropped by 905. Thus, there are still 14,979 patients being treated or undergoing isolation.

Of the total cases, 791,422 patients have recovered, while 12,363 patients succumbed to the illness. The city’s recovery rate thus hit 96.7 percent, and the death rate was 1.5 percent.

Dwi went on to report that the COVID-19 positivity rate in the past week hit 15.3 percent. “While the total positivity rate stands at 15.2 percent,” she added. The WHO recommended a safe rate at below five percent.

Read: COVID-19 Active Cases Fall to 19,000 in Jakarta: Governor

LANI DIANA WIJAYA