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Health agency workers conduct rapid testing on visitors of Pasar Anyar Market in Bogor, West Java, on May 18. (Antara/Arif Firmansyah)

NTB sees highest daily increase with 49 new COVID-19 cases, including 1-month-old baby

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The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) administration announced 49 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the highest one-day increase in the region since the epidemic began.

The head of the local COVID-19 task force,Lalu Gita Ariadi, explained that the 49 cases were found among 327 samples tested on Tuesday. Of the 49 newly confirmed cases, 18 originated in Mataram, while three cases were found in West Sumbawa regency and the rest of the cases were from Lombok island, he added.

Lalu added that of the 49 cases, 11 were children, including three babies and five toddlers.

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The youngest of the newly found COVID-19 cases in the region was a month-old baby girl from Central Lombok regency. The source of the virus transmission was still unknown as the baby reportedly never had any contact with COVID-19 patients and had not traveled to regions that had seen a large number of cases.  

However according to Lalu, “the baby girl is being treated in an isolation room in Praya Regional Hospital and she is in good condition,” he said as quoted from kompas.com.

“With 49 new cases of COVID-19, NTB has seen a total of 537 people with the disease so far,” he said. Meanwhile, the region also recorded nine COVID-19-related deaths, while 272 people had recovered. 

The government has recorded 23,165 COVID-19 positive cases and 1,418 fatalities. Jakarta remains to be the main epicenter in the country, followed by East Java and West Java, respectively. (trn)