Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Indonesia has gone through nine months of desperate attempts to contain the spread of coronavirus with no immediate signs that it will ultimately flatten the curve.

In fact, the seven-day average of newly cases has been setting new records for eight consecutive days now. The weekly average of coronavirus deaths also saw a new high on Monday, for the second day in a row.

November has become the toughest period in the Indonesian outbreak with another grim milestone and record-breaking daily numbers in newly cases and deaths.

Indonesia passed the 500,000 mark of overall confirmed cases last week, after daily numbers had begun to top 5,000. On Sunday, nationwide daily count exceeded 6,000 for the first time since the outbreak.

The country has beaten its own daily record four times this month. It has been averaging 4,293 cases since Nov. 1 to produce the highest monthly average ever, bringing the total number of cases to 538,883.

The seven-day average has topped 5,000, a new level that has arrived in the last two days. The total number of active cases stands at 71,420 or 13.3 percent of the overall cases.

Monthly death toll

While the death toll has been declining slightly in the last two months, the latest weekly numbers are trending up sharply.

The virus has killed 3,076 people in Indonesia this month, in comparison to 3,129 deaths in October and another 3,323 in September.

The seven-day average of coronavirus-related deaths were within two digits in the first three weeks of the month, but it has been above 100 in the last eight days with a consistent surge to reach a new high of 135 on Monday.

The daily death toll has set a new record of 169 twice in the past week. Indonesia has recorded 16,945 deaths since the outbreak, or 3.1 percent of overall confirmed cases.

Four provinces in Java – East Java, Jakarta, Central Java and West Java – have recorded 10,339 Covid deaths altogether, accounting for 61 percent of nationwide death toll.

Top contributors

Those four provinces are also home to 57 percent of overall cases countrywide. All but Jakarta have added more cases in November than they did last month.

Central Java sees the steepest rise of monthly total from 11,477 in October to 21,984 – an increase by 92 percent. It has a total of 55,896 cases as of Monday, overtaking West Java as the third province with the most cases.

Central Java became the second province after Jakarta to report more than 1,000 new cases in day two weeks ago. Yesterday, it became the only province to ever record more than 2,000 cases during a 24-hour period.

West Java has added more than 16,000 cases since the beginning of the month to take its total to 52,517 cases.

While being ranked second in the overall number of coronavirus cases, East Java has the smallest amount of cases this month in comparison the three other provinces.

It has added 9,418 cases since Nov. 1 for a total of 61,883. However, East Java remains the deadliest place in the Indonesian outbreak with a total of 4,407 deaths, more than 25 percent of overall death toll.

Monthly number has barely changed in Jakarta, which added 31,264 cases in comparison to 31,861 in October. But that still puts the capital as the biggest contributor to the national tally in November and in overall figure.

Jakarta has recorded a total of 136,861 cases, including 2,660 deaths.

Outside Java

East Kalimantan, West Sumatra and Riau are the next top contributors to the November tally by adding between 5,200 and 5,600 cases each.

East Kalimantan has been averaging 184 cases since early this month, the highest outside Java. It has a total of 19,621 cases after adding another 5,530 this month.

The total number of cases tops 20,000 in West Sumatra and neighboring Riau on Monday. Only seven of all 34 provinces have passed the mark since the outbreak.

Since the beginning of the month, West Sumatra has added 5,504 cases to take its total to 20,041 while the total number of cases in Riau has increased by 5,276 for a total of 20,075.

Banten is the last province to average three digits in newly cases this month by adding 3,571 cases to take its total 13,061.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/nine-months-since-covid-outbreak-newly-cases-continue-to-set-record