Jakarta – The number of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based testing for coronavirus has met the daily target of 10,000 for the sixth consecutive day on Monday, despite taking more than 40 days to reach a consistent run since the benchmark was set on April 12.

Indonesia reported 467 new confirmed cases on the same day – the lowest in six days – taking the country's total to 26,940.

National Covid-19 Task Force spokesman Achmad Yurianto said 10,039 specimen tests have been conducted in the last 24 hours, meaning that the target has been exceeded for six days in a row since May 27, when daily testing hit the highest figure of over 14,000.

"But we have 6,525 specimens that require further lab tests at the provincial level," Achmad said in a daily video conference in Jakarta.

The task force has distributed tens of thousands of rapid testing kits to regions outside Java but less advanced labs at the district level often forced medical workers to repeat the testing.

Overall, only 333,415 specimen tests for coronavirus have been conducted in the country of 272 million people since first confirmed cases were detected on March 2.

Prior to the six-day run, the daily testing capacity target were exceeded on three separate days but figures had fluctuated between them.

Daily specimen testing figure:

May 19: 12,276
May 20: 8,947
May 21: 8,092
May 22: 9,359
May 23: 10,617
May 24: 11,013
May 25: 4,741
May 26: 7,152
May 27: 14,313
May 28: 11,495
May 29: 10,639
May 30: 11,361
May 31: 11,470
June 1: 10,039

Achmad said the death toll from coronavirus increased by 28 to 1,641, while 329 more patients recovered to bring the number of total recoveries to 7,637.

Jakarta reported 137 new cases on Monday, the highest among other provinces and more than double the figure in East Java, the new epicenter of the Indonesian outbreak.

"Today we have 15 provinces that reported no new confirmed cases of coronavirus," Achmad said.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/indonesias-daily-coronavirus-testing-consistently-on-target