Heru Andriyanto & Maria Fatima Bona, Jakarta – Indonesia has been enduring its worst period yet of the Covid-19 pandemic with the highest monthly death toll and steepest rise in newly cases attributed to the Delta variant throughout July.

During the last four weeks, Indonesia has recorded 30,168 Covid-related deaths, representing a third of the overall tally, National Covid-19 Task Force spokesman Wiku Adisasmito said in a video conference on Thursday.

"By comparison, the previous highest monthly death toll was 7,913 recorded in June, so the current figures are extremely high," Wiku said.

The daily death toll has topped 1,000 since July 16, including a record 2,069 deaths on Tuesday.

There is little sign that the extended lockdown helps reduce Covid-19 infections as the country again reported among the world's highest rise in new cases and deaths on Thursday.

The country of 272 million has recorded 43,479 cases in the past 24 hours to take its total to 3.3 million, government figures show.

A further 1,893 deaths brought the total number of Covid-19 fatalities to 90,552, within four days before the extended lockdown ends.

Indonesia has returned to restrictions since July 3 as the highly transmissible Delta variant started to become the dominant strain in the country's outbreak.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo decided last week to extend the lockdown by another week but current figures indicate that the August 2 deadline is too early.

About 25 percent of diagnostic tests come back with positive results, according to the Health Ministry.

There are currently more than 540,000 active cases of the virus, mostly in provinces across Java.

The extended lockdown already eases some restrictions, including a permit for sit-down meals and drinks at outdoor restaurants and reopening of traditional markets with capacity limit.

Indonesia has administered 66 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to date, but only about 19.7 million citizens are fully vaccinated.

The government aims to reach 2 million doses per day in August.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/a-third-of-indonesias-covid19-deaths-occur-in-jul