Indonesia registers 3 cases of Delta Plus variant of COVID-19

By Nicky Aulia Widadio

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AA) - Indonesia has found three cases of the Delta Plus variant of COVID-19, an health official said on Wednesday.

Siti Nadia Tarmizi, director of Prevention and Control of Directly Infectious Diseases at the Ministry of Health, said two of the cases were detected in Jambi, while one in Mamuju, West Sulawesi.

"These are cases of local transmission," Nadia told Anadolu Agency.

The Delta Plus variant is a derivative of the Delta strain (B.161.7.2) that currently dominates the surge in infections in Java, the most populous island in Indonesia.

The Delta Plus variant first appeared in the global database in March 2021 and the UK Health Agency (PHE) has categorized it as a variant of concern.

- 47,791 new COVID-19 cases

Indonesia on Wednesday announced 47,791 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infection in the country to more than 3.28 million.

According to the Health Ministry, the death toll in the country rose to 88,659 after 1,824 new fatalities were reported over the past day.

Some 43,856 COVID-19 patients in Indonesia recovered over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to more than 2.64 million.

The number of active cases in the country has reached 558,000.

Data compiled by Worldometer showed that the number of deaths from SARS-CoV-2 infection in Indonesia is the highest in Southeast Asia, as well as the third highest in Asia after India and Iran.

Mahesa Paranadipa, chief executive of the Mitigation Team of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI), said the high mortality rate was very much likely due to the large number of patients who could not be treated in health facilities as they are already overwhelmed.

* Writing by Nazarudin Latief with Anadolu Agency’s Indonesian language services in Jakarta.​​​​​​​