Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Indonesia is entering its worst period yet in the coronavirus outbreak with new cases averaging over 3,200 since the start of the month and the total number of Covid-19 deaths exceeding 8,000 on Sunday.

The country reported 3,444 new cases, the second highest daily rise after a record 3,622 cases only three days ago, to take its total to 194,109.

With this rate of new infection, Indonesia will pass the 200,000 mark within the next few days.

The daily death toll fell to 85 from 108 a day earlier, bringing the total number of coronavirus-related deaths to 8,025 or 4.1 percent of total cases.

More provinces see a surge in cases as they improve testing capacity while worst-hit regions report a faster speed in transmission.

Daily total in Jakarta began to hit the four-digit figure late last month as the capital city entered a different level of caseload rises compared to the remaining provinces.

It reported 1,176 new cases on Sunday, the second highest daily rise since the outbreak, taking its tally to 46,333.

East Java is at a distant second with 35,634 cases, 303 more from yesterday. The province again saw the highest number of Covid-19 deaths, with 30 more for a total of 2,545, nearly double the death toll in Jakarta.

West Sumatra surprisingly added the third biggest amount to the national total on Sunday as it reported a record 244 new cases. It has accumulated a total of 2,751 cases since the outbreak.

West Sumatra became one of six Indonesian provinces to meet the World Health Organization requirement of at least 1,000 tests per 1 million population per week in late August, according to the Health Ministry data.

Central Java, the third worst-affected province, added 233 cases for a total of 15,351, including 1,084 deaths.

South Sulawesi saw resurgence with 209 new cases, its highest daily total in more than a month, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 12,684.

West Java, the last province in the top five, recorded 173 new cases for a total of 12,505.

East Kalimantan, also exceeded the WHO testing requirement last week, became the ninth province to pass 5,000 cases by adding 186 more on Sunday. Its current total is almost a tenfold increase from a total of 525 cases it had on July 1.

The resort island of Bali has added more than 1,000 cases since the beginning of the month, the biggest increase outside the four worst-hit provinces on Java Island.

Bali has a total of 6,212 cases as of Sunday to rank eighth among provinces with the most cases, but the rate of transmission has outpaced that of South Sulawesi, South Kalimantan, North Sumatra and East Kalimantan.

Overall, Indonesia has more than 47,500 active cases of the virus.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/indonesia-covid19-death-toll-passes-800