The number of active COVID-19 cases in Riau Islands has declined significantly, executive chief of the Riau Islands COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Adi Prihantara, has said.

“There are now 73 patients after 33 people were declared to have recovered from COVID-19,” he informed here on Friday.

Though people contracted COVID-19 every day, their number was relatively small compared to the number of patients who recovered in the past week, he explained.

According to the task force’s daily report, the number of new COVID-19 patients increased by six, with three cases reported in Batam, one in Bintan, and two in Karimun.

Meanwhile, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Batam stood at 29, Tanjungpinang 15, Bintan 21, and Karimun 8.

“There were no deaths due to COVID-19 today (Friday),” Prihantara informed.

With one patient in Lingga declared to have recovered from COVID-19, the region’s active cases reached zero.

Meanwhile, in the past six months, Anambas Islands has reported zero active cases. Hence, the district has been declared a green zone.

In addition to Lingga and Anambas, Natuna also still has zero active COVID-19 cases, Prihantara informed.

“There is a quite significant downward trend in active COVID-19 cases. Alhamdullilah (Praise be to God), we expect that Riau Islands can have zero active cases soon,” he remarked.

He urged the people to not be carried away by the situation and increase their discipline in implementing the health protocols.

He also asked people to take COVID-19 vaccination, especially the booster dose vaccines.

Currently, the number of residents who have received the first dose has reached 1,779,527 or 98,71 percent of the total target, second dose 1,538,662 or 85,35 percent of the target, and booster dose 717,629 or 52,25 percent of the total target.

Source: Antara News