Natasia Christy Wahyuni, Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – The government confirmed on Thursday the highly transmissible Delta variant is the main culprit behind the ongoing dramatic spike in newly coronavirus cases and deaths.

Indonesia set a new record in the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases with 38,391 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the country's total to 2.4 million, government figures show.

In all but one day, daily Covid numbers in Indonesia have been reaching a new high since the beginning of the month.

A further 852 deaths were reported on Thursday, the second-highest daily death toll after it passed the 1,000 mark for the first time a day earlier. The virus has killed 63,760 people since the outbreak started in the country.

"The Delta has become the dominant variant, accounting for 78.8 percent [of total newly cases]," Health Ministry spokeswoman Siti Nadia Tarmizi said in Jakarta.

She added other strains that continue to infect people included the Beta variant (10.3 percent) and the Alpha variant (9.2 percent).

"Delta variant was first detected in April but it's more transmissible and more capable of causing severe symptoms," she said.

Jakarta is currently the epicenter of the Indonesian outbreak and home to 26 percent of total Covid cases countrywide. The capital city added nearly 13,000 new cases on Thursday to take its total to 623,277.

But it's in East and Central Java where the virus has killed more people than in other provinces.

East Java has recorded a total of 13,458 Covid-related deaths and Central Java was not far behind with 12,364 deaths, including 229 on Thursday alone.

Total Covid death toll has not reached the five-digit figures in the remaining 32 provinces.

Indonesia has administered nearly 49.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine since the campaign began on January 13, with 14.6 million citizens already fully vaccinated.

The government has targeted to vaccinate 181 million people or 70 percent of the population by March 2022.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/delta-variant-blamed-for-dramatic-covid-surge-in-indonesi