Jakarta Sees Resurgence in Newly Coronavirus Cases

Jakarta. The seven-day average of coronavirus infections in Jakarta has been nearing the four-digit level again in the past week after it seemingly was able to contain the spread of the virus early this month.

The capital city recorded 1,006 cases on Monday, the fourth day in a row it saw more than 1,000 new cases.

Jakarta is the worst-affected province in the Indonesian outbreak with a total of 119,633 cases, more than twice as many cases as in second-placed East Java.

The virus has killed 2,452 people in Jakarta since the outbreak began.

New clusters of infection are feared to emerge after public gatherings involving thousands of people with a complete disregard for the health protocols have been held to welcome Rizieq Syihab, the leader of hardline group Islamic Defender Front, or FPI.

While Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan seemed undisturbed by the mass gatherings -- he himself was among the first to welcome Rizieq upon the latter’s arrival from Saudi Arabia last week -- the central government took the matter quite seriously.

The police chiefs in Jakarta and West Java have been replaced “for failing to enforce the health protocols” shortly after Rizieq led mass gatherings in their areas.

Jakarta is home to 25 percent of nationwide confirmed cases of the virus.

National Figures
The country has recorded 3,535 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 470,648. 

It has been averaging 4,297 cases in the past week, moving closer to the highest seven-day average of 4,379 cases reported on Sept. 26.

An additional of 85 Covid-19 patients have died in the 24-hour period, bringing the total death toll to 15,296.

The total number of active cases stands at 59,909 or 12.7 percent of the overall cases.

The surge is slowing a little bit in Central Java, which four days ago became only the second province to report a four-digit daily number.

It added 795 more cases for a total of 44,148, including 2,021 deaths. Central Java has seen a dramatic surge in new infections since last week in line with improving diagnostic testing capacity.

West Java also reported an uptick in newly cases, averaging 661 cases in the past week. It has recorded a total of 45,049 confirmed cases and 827 deaths since the outbreak began.

East Java is the only province among the top four to experience a steady decline in new infections since the beginning of the month. 

However, it still has the second-highest number of confirmed cases and the biggest number of coronavirus-related deaths.

At least 4,036 Covid patients have died in East Java, while the number of confirmed cases increased by 264 for a total of 56,551.

Second Group
East Kalimantan saw the biggest rise among the second group of worst-affected provinces with 159 new cases to take its total to 17,172.

Riau added 148 cases for a total of 16,757. 

North Sumatra registered 118 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 14,411. This is for the first time since Oct. 1 it reported over 100 cases in a single day.

West Sumatra, which has among the fastest-growing number of cases, recorded just 38 new cases, the lowest daily number in more than two months.