Jakarta. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Indonesia reached a grim milestone of 200,000 on Tuesday as escalation of caseloads has reached a new level with daily total averaging more than 3,000 since late August.
Limited diagnostic testing capacity and a lack of strict lockdown measures in hotspots have allowed the virus to spread faster every month with no clear sign of the peak.
It took 147 days since first cases were confirmed on March 2 for the country to top 100,000 cases. Within just 43 days later, the national tally has exceeded 200,000.
Southeast Asia’s biggest country has recorded 3,046 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking its total to 200,035. It has added more than 25,000 cases since the beginning of the month.
The total cases include 8,230 deaths, 100 more from a day earlier.
Jakarta saw resurgence in cases in mid-July and the rate of transmission has since gained the pace. It was the only province so far to have reported more than 1,000 cases in a day.
The capital city added 1,014 new cases for a total of 48,393 and reported 21 more deaths to bring its total death toll to 1,317.
East Java has the second-biggest number of cases, but it holds the record for Covid-19 deaths. Its daily death toll again outnumbered that of other provinces, with 32 more on Tuesday for a total of 2,608.
It added 401 new cases, taking its total to 36,342.
Central Java is at a distant third with 15,852 cases, 237 more from yesterday. Death toll in Central Java totaled 1,096, the last province to have accumulated more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths since the outbreak.
A surge in cases continued in West Java with 336 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 13,045.
West Java climbed fourth by overtaking South Sulawesi a day earlier and has recorded a higher growth in new cases than Central Java since last month.
South Sulawesi is in fifth with 12,746 cases, followed by South Kalimantan (8,903) and North Sumatra (7,832).
While new cases in South Sulawesi and South Kalimantan are slowing, three other provinces are experiencing a spike.
Bali, North Sumatra and East Kalimantan have added more than 1,000 cases each since Sept. 1. Among them, Bali sees the fastest growth and now has a total of 6,549 cases.
Riau (2,831) could emerge as another hotspot as it has begun to report three-digit daily total since late last month.
Indonesia has more than 48,800 active cases of the virus and nearly 143,000 recovered patients.
