Indonesia extends COVID-19 restrictions till Aug. 2

Indonesia will extend the COVID-19 restrictions for the next eight days to control the transmission of COVID-19, President Joko Widodo said on Sunday.

"By considering the aspects of health, economy and social dynamics, we decided to continue implementing the level 4 PPKM (public activity restrictions) from July 26 to Aug. 2," Widodo said in a virtual press conference.

Widodo asked people to be vigilant against the highly contagious Delta variant and possible emergence of other more dangerous variants.

Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said on Sunday that the level 3 restrictions are imposed in 33 districts and cities in Java and Bali, while the level 4, which is the highest level of restrictions, is implemented in 99 areas on the two islands.

"The implementation of level 4 and level 3 PPKM is assessed based on three main factors, namely the indicator of transmission rate and the response of the health system based on the World Health Organization guidelines, and the third indicator is the socio-economic condition of the community," Pandjaitan told a virtual press conference.

Indonesia's Health Ministry said Sunday that COVID-19 cases in the country rose by 38,679 within the past 24 hours to 3,166,505 with the death toll adding by 1,266 to 83,279.

Another 37,640 recovered patients were discharged from hospitals, raising the total number of recoveries in the Southeast Asian country to 2,509,318, according to the ministry.

The virus has spread to all the country's 34 provinces and the more transmissible virus Delta variant has contributed to the surge in COVID-19 cases in some regions.

Indonesia is accelerating its massive vaccination program while maintaining restrictions on public mobility in several regions amid the second wave of outbreak.