Covid-19: Third wave takes hold in Indonesia's capital Jakarta

Despite its high vaccination rate, Jakarta has seen its number of active Covid-19 cases triple in the past week. - Bloomberg

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): A third wave of the coronavirus pandemic has begun to take hold across the country, with the Omicron variant of the virus believed to have driven a surge in cases and hospitalisation in the capital, where more than 80 per cent of the population has been vaccinated.

On Thursday (Jan 27), the country saw 8,077 new confirmed Covid-19 cases, the highest official daily caseload since August last year when the country was struggling to contain the Delta-induced second wave, which peaked at 56,757 cases a month earlier.