Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – The transmission rate of coronavirus has been picking up the pace in Jakarta and East Java since the beginning of the month, offering a bleak outlook to the country's hope to put the outbreak under control.

Jakarta has been averaging 482 cases since August 1, a significant increase from the daily average of 323 cases in July. The virus is also spreading faster in East Java – from an average of 318 cases in July to 345.

Jakarta has a total of 27,153 confirmed cases of the virus, including 959 deaths, in comparison to East Java's 26,220 cases and 1,931 deaths.

Both provinces alone have accounted for more than 40 percent of the national count, meaning that the country's handling of the outbreak is largely about them.

Indonesia added 1,942 new cases on Wednesday, to take the country's total to 130,718. The daily death toll has climbed to the highest figure since last week, with 79 Covid-19 deaths for a total of 5,903.

In a more positive note, the number of recovered Covid-19 patients has exceeded 2,000 in the past 24 hours, the highest since July 30.

Nearly 86,000 Covid-19 patients in Indonesia have been cured or discharged from hospitals, representing 65 percent of the total cases. It's also the first time since last week that daily recoveries outnumbered new cases.

North Sumatra should get the central government's attention, as the virus is spreading beyond control. The province has added 1,333 cases since the start of the month, more than the number of cases accumulated by other hotspots like West Java, South Sulawesi and South Kalimantan in the same period.

North Sumatra began to experience a surge in cases in mid-July and has now recorded more than 5,200 cases overall. Only seven of the country's 34 provinces have accumulated more than 5,000 cases since the outbreak.

Daily cases in Central Java, South Sulawesi and West Java have been fluctuating in the last two weeks.

With nearly 11,000 cases, Central Java ranked third among provinces with the most cases, followed by South Sulawesi (10,675).

However, the growth of cases in West Java is at alarming level now. The country's most populous province has added more cases than South Sulawesi throughout this month – 1,271 against 1,253.

Daily death toll was particularly high in Central Java and East Java. The number of Covid-19 deaths in Central Java stood at 347 on July 1 but it has now soared to 751.

Over the same period, East Java has added nearly 1,000 Covid-19 deaths.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/coronavirus-is-spreading-faster-in-jakarta-east-java