South Sumatra Faces Resurgence of New COVID-19 Clusters at Workplace

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - South Sumatra is currently striving to tackle the appearance of new clusters of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the workplace, Head of the Surveillance and Immunization Division at the province's Health Office, Yusri, stated.

"Offices have turned out to be new COVID-19 clusters in South Sumatra. This situation is different from the time when large-scale social restrictions were applied in the wake of many confirmed cases of community members," he told local journalists here Saturday.

In stopping the ongoing spread of this COVID-19 outbreak, Yusri urged employees and other community members to continue to practice the government's health and safety protocols, such as wearing face masks, washing hands, and maintaining physical distancing.

As of August 21, South Sumatra Province had recorded 49 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, thereby taking the tally to 4,037. Of the figure, 2,744 patients had made a complete recovery, while 219 others succumbed to the deadly virus, he remarked.

To this end, Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra, has become a COVID-19 epicenter, with 2,492 confirmed cases, or 61.7 percent of the province's total number of confirmed cases, he remarked.

Coronavirus infections initially surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019.

Since then, COVID-19 has spread to over 215 countries and territories, including Indonesia, with a massive spurt in death toll.

As of early this week, the health authorities revealed that Indonesia's confirmed COVID-19 case count had reached 141,370, with 94,458 patients making a full recovery and 6,207 others succumbing to the virus.

Indonesia is leaving no stone unturned to develop a vaccine to fight the virus that has triggered public health and economic crises in all affected countries.

The pandemic has severely affected Indonesia's economy as was mirrored in its gross domestic product, which reportedly contracted 5.32 percent in the second quarter of this year.

The government has stressed on the criticality of solid support of and active participation from all elements of society to handle the public health and economic crises.

Indonesia's sixth president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has expressed confidence in the nation's capability to resolve and steer through the twin crises as long as it stands united.

To this end, he suggested that the government lead and assist the people, while the public, on its part, should fully support the government and fulfill mandatory duties.

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ANTARA