Task Force: 27 Riau Islands Residents Recovered From COVID-19

TANJUNG PINANG - The Riau Islands Province COVID-19 Task Force noted that as many as 27 local residents were declared cured of COVID-19, leaving 107 active cases.

The Daily Chief of the Riau Islands COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Adi Prihantara, revealed that the patients who recovered from COVID-19 were 13 residents of Batam City, 13 people of Tanjungpinang, and one person in Karimun Regency.

While active cases of COVID-19 in Riau Islands are spread in Batam 42 people, Tanjungpinang 50 people, Karimun 6 people, and Bintan Regency 9 people.

"We can convey based on the daily report of the task force that today there are no cases of death due to COVID-19," Adi said as quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, August 7.

Adi said that on average, COVID-19 patients are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, so they can recover easily.

The asymptomatic patient has already injected the second or complete dose of COVID-19 vaccine and the third or booster dose.

"The vaccine is useful for increasing our immunity, so the government encourages all members of the community who meet the requirements for the vaccine," he said.

The spokesperson for Riau Islands COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Tjetjep Yudiana, asked the public to be aware of COVID-19 cases which tended to increase in the last three weeks.

Public vigilance must be followed by disciplined implementation of health procedures and also supports the COVID-19 vaccination program.

"If someone asks whether the number of active cases will increase much? I answered, it's possible if we don't vaccinate and don't obey the health protocol when doing activities outside the home. Active cases that tend to increase now are the fact that COVID-19 is still there, so we have to be vigilant without panicking," he said.

The former Head of the Riau Islands Health Office said that patients recovered easily because on average they were infected with Omicron, a variant of COVID-19.

Omicron is easily contagious, but less dangerous than other COVID-19 variants.

"That's why there are quite a number of cases of residents who have contracted COVID-19 without symptoms. They are known to have contracted Omicron based on the results of a swab test using the RT-PCR method after officers conducted searches on people who were in close contact with COVID-19 patients," he said.