Jakarta. Indonesia recorded the highest seven-day average of newly coronavirus cases and related deaths on Saturday as the government began registering citizens eligible for mass vaccination starting later this month.

The country has recorded 7,203 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 758,473, according to the government figures.

It has been averaging 7,377 cases in the past week, the third day in a row that the seven-day average has set a new high.

A further 226 Covid-19 patients have died in the 24-hour period to take the total death toll to 22,555.

It’s also the deadliest week in the country’s outbreak with an average of 223 deaths. The daily death toll has topped 200 for the fifth time in the past week.

The Health Ministry announced earlier this week they have been preparing the list of eligible vaccine recipients who will get notifications from their cell phone later this month. 

The government mass vaccination program targets 181 million of the country’s estimated 270 million population.

Southeast Asia’s biggest country is the worst hit by the virus in the region. Today’s number roughly equals to the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in neighboring Thailand.

The four most populous provinces -- Jakarta, West Java, East Java and Central Java -- make up 58 percent of the national tally.

Jakarta added 1,894 cases for a total of 187,585, more than any other province.

West Java overtook East Java in the second place a day earlier and extended the gap by adding another 1,167 cases on Saturday to take its total to 86,250.

It’s for the fifth day in a row that West Java has topped 1,000 cases.

Hit badly by the virus much earlier than most other provinces, East Java saw resurgence in newly cases in late November and has since more than doubled the average of daily cases.

The province has recorded a total of 85,762 cases, an increase of 723 from the previous day.

Coronavirus cases are rising in Central Java as well, with an average of 939 this week to take its total to 83,584.

South Sulawesi is leading the second group of major hotspots with a new one-day high of 590 cases, bringing the province’s total to 32,187. Like other worst-hit provinces, South Sulawesi began to see a drastic surge in newly cases in late November.

East Kalimantan, Banten, Yogyakarta and Bali are other provinces where the virus is spreading faster now than in November.

Death Toll
The daily death toll has been alarmingly high in Central Java in recent weeks, including another 86 Covid deaths on Saturday.

Central Java surpassed Jakarta as the province with the second-highest death toll earlier this week and now has recorded a total of 3,686 deaths in comparison to the capital city’s 3,316.

East Java remains on the top of the list when it comes to coronavirus casualty toll with a total of 5,959 deaths, 59 more from yesterday.

West Java comes fourth with a total of 1,176 deaths, barely changed from last week.

Outside of the four giants, no other provinces have exceeded 1,000 deaths since the outbreak began.