Jakarta. Indonesia recorded 4,262 new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Saturday, the highest daily rise in more than two weeks, to take the country’s total to 433,836, according to the latest Health Ministry data.
The seven-day average has been climbing in the last three days after a steady decline for several weeks to indicate that the country has been past its first peak.
Health officials have warned earlier that the five-day weekend in late October could trigger a surge in new cases during the two weeks that followed as many people ignored advices to stay at home.
The death toll increased by 98 for a total of 14,540, or 3.4 percent of the overall cases.
The total number of active cases stands at 54,879, while a total of 364,417 Covid-19 patients have recovered since the outbreak began.
Key Hotspots
Four provinces in Java continue to become key contributors to the daily surge, with Jakarta returning to the four-digit daily number.
The capital city, home to 25 percent of nationwide infections, has recorded 1,118 new cases in the last 24 hours, the highest one-day rise since Oct. 12. It has a total of 111,201 cases, including 2,357 deaths.
Governor Anies Baswedan is expected to announce tomorrow whether the city will continue with the current social restrictions. Jakarta has been averaging 801 cases in the past week, in comparison to the average of 768 cases in the previous week.
East Java has the second-highest number of infections, totaling 54,349, and the country’s highest death toll with a total of 3,884 coronavirus-related deaths.
Its daily numbers have been outpaced by West and Central Java since last month.
West Java averages 468 cases this week, second only to Jakarta, to take its total number of confirmed cases to 39,614, including 761 deaths.
Central Java has a total of 37,080 cases and 1,859 deaths, the third-highest death toll countrywide. It has been averaging 463 cases since Nov. 1, in comparison to the average of 370 cases in the whole month of October.
South Sulawesi, which was hit badly by the virus early on, came next with a total of 18,683 cases, but daily average in the province has fallen to two digits since last month. Despite another 125 cases on Saturday, the seven-day average in South Sulawesi stood at a mere 48 cases.
Slower Growth
The speed of new transmissions is slowing in West Sumatra and Riau, which have dramatically risen through the ranks to join the group of worst-affected provinces in a span of two months.
West Sumatra has been averaging 184 cases in the past week, with a total of 15,823 cases.
Riau has recorded 165 new cases in the 24-hour period to take its total to 15,586. Both provinces in Sumatra Island averaged more than 230 cases last month.
East Kalimantan has the highest daily average outside Java on 188 cases per day, with a total of 15,405 cases as of Saturday.
North Sumatra is ranked ninth with a total of 13,665 cases and has been keeping daily numbers within two digits in more than a month, while Bali (12,181) reports lower daily average than the figure last month although it remains in the top ten.
Both have been outpaced by Banten, which became the 12th province to pass the 10,000 mark on Saturday. The province just south of Jakarta has been averaging 86 cases in the past week.
