Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia added 4,951 fresh COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours ended Thursday noon, bringing the total number of cases recorded nationwide since March 2020 to 6,507,610, the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling reported.
Jakarta contributed the largest number of cases at 1,823, followed by West Java with 694 cases, East Java 681 cases, Banten 394 cases, and Central Java 382 cases.
Meanwhile, the number of active cases increased by 2,027 to reach 32,080.
Further, as many as 42 people succumbed to COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 158,737.
According to the task force, 66,257 specimens were examined in Indonesian laboratories and 5,462 suspected COVID-19 cases were identified as of Thursday.
The total number of recoveries reached 6,316,793 with the discharge of 2,882 people from hospitals following COVID-19 recovery.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin called on the younger generation to use the pandemic, which has continued for the past three years, as a benchmark for experience as well as lessons that can be passed on for the future.
“This pandemic has a cycle, it may be years, even decades. So, what the current generation is doing in dealing with the pandemic, it can be a benchmark for young people in the future if there is another pandemic,” he said.
The younger generation should understand very well how the government has handled the pandemic through mutual cooperation with the community in order to suppress the death rate, he added.
Hence, if a similar incident occurs again in the future, it is hoped that the number of deaths could be reduced.
“It is our obligation to ensure that the younger generation be involved in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and they can understand what the government is trying to do to prevent the next pandemic from happening,” he said.
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