Indonesia sees biggest single-day rise in infections

JAKARTA — Indonesia reported its biggest singleday rise in coronavirus infections on Thursday, with almost half of the 2,657 new cases detected at a military training centre in West Java.

So far, the world’s fourth most populous country has recorded 70,736 cases. Public health researchers suspect that due to the limited scope of testing so far, the actual case total could be far higher, though the government denies this, and has told people not to panic. There were 58 new coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday, bringing the official total to 3,417, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto told a news conference.

Partial data for 20 of Indonesia’s 35 provinces gathered by volunteer group Kawal Covid-19 from local governments websites, however, showed there were a further 6,847 deaths of people who had not been tested but showed acute symptoms.