Jakarta. Confirmed coronavirus cases rose by 484 in Indonesia on Tuesday, the highest spike in a day, to take the country’s total to 12,071.

Deaths from the respiratory illness have returned to one-digit figure in a highly fluctuating trend. Since April 1, the country has seen daily deaths below 10 in only six separate days.

"There are 243 patients who have recovered in the last 24 hours so that a total of 2,197 patients have now left hospitals,” National Covid-19 spokesman Achmad Yurianto said in a daily video conference in Jakarta.

He said eight patients have died over the same period, bringing the total death toll to 872. A day earlier, the country reported 19 coronavirus deaths. The highest fatality of 60  was recorded on April 14.

Indonesia’s coronavirus death toll covers only positive cases confirmed in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) lab testing. Deaths from probable cases are not included.

Despite the relatively low daily deaths, the country’s mortality rate of 7.2 percent remains among the highest in Asia.

An overwhelming majority of confirmed cases occurs in just six out of the country’s 34 provinces. 

Jakarta remains the epicenter of the outbreak with 4,687 cases, or 38.8 percent, and 409 deaths. The capital has conducted more than 81,000 rapid Covid-19 screenings and found 4 percent of test takers with clinical symptoms of the disease.

West Java, which has four times the population of Jakarta, comes at a distant second with 1,300 cases and 87 deaths. Five cities and districts in West Java share borders with the capital and are home to millions of commuter workers.

East Java has 1,171 cases and the worst mortality rate until today. One in every ten Covid-19 patients in the province dies. Central Java comes next with 849 cases and 62 deaths.

South Sulawesi is the only province outside Java Island to join the top five with 640 cases and 40 deaths. Most transmissions have been blamed to the March 18 international Muslim pilgrimage in the district of Gowa. The event was canceled in the last minute but more than 8,000 pilgrims from 10 countries including Indonesia had already arrived in the district.

Banten, just south of Jakarta, has 458 cases and 41 deaths.