Coronavirus cases in Indonesia top 50,000

By Nicky Aulia Widadio

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AA) - Indonesia on Thursday confirmed 1,178 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 50,187.

Achmad Yurianto, the government spokesman for COVID-19, said at least 47 patients died over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 2,620.

“Meanwhile, 791 patients have recovered over the last 24 hours. As of today, the total number of recovered patients has also increased to 20,449," the spokesman said during a news conference in the capital Jakarta.

East Java reported the highest daily rise with 247 cases, followed by DKI Jakarta with 196 and South Sulawesi with 103 cases.

DKI Jakarta and East Java are the two provinces which recorded the highest number of cases -- 10,600 and 10,545 respectively. However, both provinces have eased the coronavirus-related restrictions.

Indonesia remains the country with the highest COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, followed by Singapore with 42,736 cases.

The country announced the first two confirmed cases on March 2. Since then, 708,962 specimen samples have been examined.

*Writing by Maria Elisa Hospita from Anadolu Agency's Indonesian-language service in Jakarta