Indonesia logs highest daily COVID-19 caseload
Indonesia reported the highest daily COVID-19 caseload with 64,718 infections recorded on February 16, according to data released by the national COVID-19 task force.
Illustrative image (Source: AP)The figure exceeded the peak single-day jump of 56,757 reported on July 15, 2021, during the Delta wave, the task force said.
To curb the spread of COVID-19, Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged all citizens to keep calm, remain disciplined in implementing the government's health protocols, and reduce unnecessary activities.
By Feberuary 16. the country had logged 4,966,046 COVID-19 cases, including 4,375,234 recoveries, 445,190 patients undergoing treatment and 145,622 deaths.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s Bangkok is racing to set up more beds in isolation facilities to cope with a spike in coronavirus cases.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) said all 50 district offices had been directed to set up additional community isolation centres in an effort to ease caseloads of infected patients at hospitals, alleviating pressure on the health system as a whole. People who test positive for coronavirus but do not have serious symptoms are treated at the centres.
Over the last 24 hours, Thailand recorded 16,426 new COVID-19 cases and 27 related deaths, raising the national count to nearly 2.64 million and death toll to 22,516.
In related news, Singapore has expanded its Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme to Hong Kong (China), Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with VTL quotas to be restored and progressively increased.
Singapore will also streamline its border measures for the VTL that would benefit fully vaccinated travellers.
Others include travel history requirement will be reduced from 14 to 7 days; and VTL travellers will no longer need to perform an on-arrival Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test.
On February 15, Singapore detected 19,179 new cases, most of whom show no or mild symptoms./.
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