Jakarta. Indonesia reported 973 new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Thursday, the highest single-day rise ever during the pandemic – 40.4 percent higher than the previous record yesterday.

The latest figure brought the total number of coronavirus cases in Indonesia to 20,162.

It took 60 days for the country to reach the grim milestone of 10,000 cases, but only 21 days later the number of cases nationwide has surpassed 20,000.

The new infection rate has gained pace as the outbreak's epicenter gradually shifts from Jakarta to several other provinces, most notably East Java.

The National Covid-19 Task Force said East Java had 502 new confirmed cases on Thursday, or 51.6 percent of the nationwide figure.

Not even Jakarta has ever reported such a staggering amount of daily cases.

Jakarta's highest case rise in a day was 236 on April 9. 

East Java now has 2,998 Covid-19 cases, including 241 deaths.

Other provinces also reported two-figure daily cases on Thursday.

Jakarta has 65 new cases to bring the city's total to 6,301.

West Java remains the third most-affected province with 1,962 cases, 86 more than yesterday.

The task force said improved testing capacity in remote provinces also added to the pace of new reported cases.

More Recoveries

On a more positive note, the number of patients who have recovered from the disease increased significantly by 263 on Thursday, second only to a record 285 on May 15, taking the total number of recoveries to 4,838.

Meanwhile, 36 more patients have died from the respiratory disease over the 24-hour period to take the total death toll to 1,278.

Task force spokesman Achmad Yurianto said probable cases at hospitals (PDP) now stood at 11,066, while the number of suspected cases with mild symptoms or persons who have had contacts with positive cases (ODP) totaled 50,187.