Coronavirus cases top 3M in Indonesia, death toll hits new peak

By Nicky Aulia Widadio

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AA) – Coronavirus infections in Indonesia exceeded three million on Thursday as the more infectious Delta variant drives a surge in the Southeast Asian country.

The COVID-19 cases have swelled by 49,509 over the past day, while daily fatalities hit a new peak of 1,449, raising the nationwide tally to 79,032, the Health Ministry said in a daily report.

The number of active cases topped 516,000 in the country.

Recoveries went up by 36,370 to cross 2.39 million, while more than 228,000 coronavirus tests done in the last 24 hours, with positivity rate standing at 21,65%, much higher than the target of 5%.

Indonesia has been making frantic efforts to curb the virus’ spread. The government has imposed stricter restrictions in the most populated Java and Bali islands from July 3 to 25.

It plans to gradually ease restrictions starting July 26 if the daily cases decline.

Indonesia has so far administered COVID-19 vaccines to almost 60 million people, with over 43,1 million people having received their first doses, while over 16,8 million are fully vaccinated.

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*Writing by Rhany Chairunissa Rufinaldo with Anadolu Agency’s Indonesian language services in Jakarta.