Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Indonesia added 3,128 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 190,665, including 7,940 deaths.
It's the fourth day in a row that the daily total has exceeded 3,000 and if this trend continues the country will pass 200,000 cases early next week.
Four major provinces on Java Island – Jakarta, East Java, Central Java and West Java – were the main contributors to the daily surge.
Jakarta reported 877 new cases to take its total to 45,157, including 1,265 deaths. It has added more than 5,000 cases since the beginning of the month and been leading the national daily rise since August 6.
East Java is at a distant second with 35,331 cases, 326 more from yesterday. However, it regularly reports the highest daily death toll, including 27 more casualties on Saturday to bring its total death toll to 2,515, almost double the figure in Jakarta.
Central Java reported 258 new cases for a total of 15,118 – less than a half the total number in East Java. The number of Covid-19 deaths in Central Java is closing in on that of Jakarta, totaling 1,078 on Saturday.
West Java is getting closer to the top four with a total of 12,332 cases, up by 228 cases from a day earlier.
South Sulawesi saw a surge in cases with 154 more on Saturday, the highest in 20 days, bringing its total number of cases to 12,475. It looks set to drop to the fifth place sooner than later as new cases are growing faster in West Java.
Bali
Apart from the four worst-affected Javanese provinces, the resort island of Bali has seen the highest surge in cases since late last month.
It has added 864 cases since Sept. 1, more than other hotspots like South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra and East Kalimantan. Daily new cases have been rising by 160 or more in Bali since the start of the month.
Bali has a total 6,071 cases as of Saturday to rank eighth among provinces with the most cases.
Coronavirus cases are also surging in North Sumatra, which has reported 725 new cases month to date. It has accumulated 7,552 cases since the outbreak to get closer to South Kalimantan (8,657) in the sixth place.
The surge is slowing in South Kalimantan and it has added just 369 new cases so far this month, the lowest among nine hotspots.
Meanwhile, East Kalimantan has added the pace in new infections since mid-August. With nearly 700 more cases in the last five days, East Kalimantan is about to become the ninth province to accumulate more than 5,000 cases. About two months ago, the province had a mere 525 cases.
More than 136,000 Covid-19 patients have recovered or been discharged from hospitals, accounting for 71.5 percent of total cases.
Meanwhile, the number of active cases exceeded 46,000 across the country's 34 provinces, about 5,000 more compared to the figure last week.