Increased By 309,568 People, Number Of Population Who Have Received Booster Vaccination Reaches 25.47 Percent Of 208.26 Million Target

Booster vaccination in Surabaya city. (Photo: ANTARA/HO-Diskominfo Surabaya)

JAKARTA - The COVID-19 Task Force reports that the number of Indonesians who have received the third dose or booster (booster) has reached 53,056,762 as of Sunday, July 17, 2022. This number has increased by 309,568 people.

As stated in the press release of the COVID-19 Task Force quoted by Antara, the rate of injection of a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has been given to 25.47 percent of the total population targeted for COVID-19 vaccination, namely 208.26 million people.

Meanwhile, the population who received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine increased by 51,165 to 169,565,409 people, or 81.41 percent of the total target.

Meanwhile, the recipients of the first dose increased by 37,530 to reach 201,944,864 people, or equivalent to 96.96 percent of the total target.

On Sunday, the Task Force noted that there were an additional 3,540 COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, 2,574 patients recovered and 10 patients died from COVID-19.

Nationally, the number of active cases rose by 956 cases to 27,550 people.

A spokesman for the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Mohammad Syahril, said that the doubling of active COVID-19 cases was in line with the government's initial prediction.

"We have been informed from the start, that in the second to fourth week of July 2022, there is a possibility of a spike in cases, which is predicted to be around 20,000 per day at the peak," said Mohammad Syahril.

This prediction is based on the results of the Ministry of Health's observations on the rate of Omicron cases in a number of other countries which increased by 30 percent on average in January-February 2022.

Syahril said as many as 81 percent of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia are Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, so they have the same characteristics as the Omicron predecessor variant.

He invited the public to comply with health protocols and to hasten access to booster dose vaccination services. "We hope the case does not continue to rise. We need to control it," he said.