Jakarta. Indonesia set a new high in daily number of coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the sixth time this month the country has beaten its own record.
New cases of the virus jumped by 4,465 to take the country’s total to 257,388, as most populous province West Java saw unprecedented surge in transmissions.
The previous record was 4,176 cases only two days ago.
More provinces have emerged as hotspots while four worst-affected provinces on Java Island remain unable to contain the spread of the virus. Instead, all but East Java have seen a new level of the uptick in cases.
Indonesia has been averaging 3,591 cases since Sept. 1, demonstrating a significant surge from the daily average of 2,143 cases last month.
The death toll increased by 140 — the second-highest daily Covid-19 deaths after a record 160 a day earlier — for a total of 9,977.
Jakarta remains the only province to report a four-digit daily rise, with another 1,133 cases to take its total to 65,687. It averages 1,113 cases per day, in comparison to the average of just 603 in August.
The Indonesian capital also reported the highest daily death toll, with 28 more deaths for a total of 1,628.
East Java, the second worst-hit province, doesn’t see an uptick in cases from the August figure, but still averages 357 cases per day. It has recorded a total of 41,755 cases since the outbreak.
It is also the deadliest place in the Indonesian outbreak, with 3,055 Covid-19 deaths, 20 more from yesterday.
Central Java became the third province to pass the 20,000 mark after adding 257 more cases for a total of 20,239. Its daily average has soared to 273 from 143 in August.
The province is also ranked third in the Covid-19 fatality with a total of 1,334 deaths.
West Java, with a population of around 50 million, is experiencing the biggest surge among the top four provinces. Its daily average is more than double from the August numbers, with 327 cases per day. It has accumulated 18,593 cases to catch up Central Java.
Newly cases are also surging in Banten, just south of the epicenter in Jakarta. The province reported 216 new cases, its highest since the outbreak, to bring its total number of cases to 4,809.
Hotspots in Sumatra
More provinces on Sumatra Island have seen a sudden surge in their daily number, with Riau Islands hitting the three-digit figure for the first time and West Sumatra reporting its highest daily rise of 204 cases.
South Sumatra, which has indicated initial success in containing daily infections within two digits in the past month, saw 110 new cases on Wednesday.
They added to a surging number in the region which already saw North Sumatra and Riau in the top ten of provinces with the most cases.
The month-to-date newly cases in Riau, a different province from Riau Islands, have reached a staggering 4,044 cases, accounting for 69 percent of the total 5,889 cases it has accumulated since the outbreak.
Aceh, which now has a total of 3,835 cases, has recorded 2,202 cases in the last 23 days alone.
Current developments in Sumatra show how the virus is finding a new breeding ground and spreading at the fastest speed in the western region of the country.
Meanwhile, East Kalimantan and Bali have added around 3,000 cases each throughout the month, further suggesting that the country’s battle against the epidemic is expanding across the vast archipelago.
Indonesia has a total of 59,453 active cases of the virus as of Wednesday.
