Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – The weekly trend of newly coronavirus cases has been moving to "unpleasant direction" with an unprecedented growth in the past week, the National Covid-19 Task Force has said.The surge has been growing at more than twice the rate in the previous weeks.

"The trend has been moving to an unpleasant direction when we compare to the previous weeks. We have seen the rate of growth at 17.8 percent in the past week," task force spokesman Wiku Adisasmito said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He said the weekly growth has averaged between 5 percent and 8 percent previously.

"This tells us that Covid-19 is still there and the pandemic is still raging on in Indonesia that we should never get caught off-guard," he added.

The country has recorded another 3,807 cases on Tuesday to take its total to 474,455. With the current rate, the total number of confirmed cases could reach half a million before the end of this month.

An additional 97 Covid-19 patients have died in the 24-hour period, bringing the total death toll to 15,393 or 3.2 percent of the overall cases.

The virus has killed more than 1,500 people in Indonesia since the beginning of the month. The total number of active cases surpassed the 60,000 mark again amid surging cases in Central and West Java.

Of the four worst-hit provinces, only East Java has reported a steady decline in newly cases, although it still has the second-highest number of overall cases.

Jakarta added 1,037 cases, the fifth day in a row it saw a four-digit daily number, to take the city's total to 120,670. The figure includes 2,456 deaths.

East Java is at a distant second with a total of 56,757 cases, 206 more from the previous day. The province still has the country's biggest casualty toll with a total of 4,041 coronavirus-related deaths.

West Java comes next with 45,697 cases after registering 648 more cases.

But it's Central Java that sees the fastest growth in the past week as it becomes only the second province to report more than 1,000 cases in a single day – thrice in the last seven days.

The dramatic surge in Central Java lifted the one-day rise to exceed the 5,000 mark nationwide for the first time five days ago.

Central Java is catching up West Java quickly with a total of 44,800 cases. Its current seven-day average stands at 826, second only to Jakarta.

It also reported the highest daily death toll with 41, bringing its total number of Covid deaths to 2,062.

Second group

Within the second group of worst affected provinces, four of them reported three-digit daily number.

Riau sees resurgence in new infections with 268 cases, the highest in the last 19 days, to take its total to 17,025.

The surge continues in East Kalimantan with another 171 cases, taking its tally to 17,343.

West Sumatra added 105 cases amid the highly fluctuating daily trend for a total of 17,498.

The daily caseloads in North Sumatra exceeded 100 for the second day in a row. It has a total of 14,512 cases, an increase of 101 on its figure a day earlier.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/covid-task-force-admits-dramatic-surge-in-newly-case