[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Indonesia's daily new COVID-19 cases have surpassed 20,000, setting a new record high.
According to the Indonesian Ministry of Health on the 24th, the new cases for the day reached 20,574, breaking the previous records of 14,536 on the 21st and 15,308 the day before.
Indonesia's daily COVID-19 cases were around 5,000 until last month but have surged sharply this month.
Deaths also increased by 355 in a single day. The cumulative confirmed cases stand at approximately 2,053,000, with total deaths at 55,949.
The rapid increase in cases in Indonesia is mainly attributed to the impact of the major holiday Lebaran (Idul Fitri) and the spread of variant viruses.
The Indonesian Ministry of Health announced that out of 2,242 COVID-19 patient samples analyzed for whole genome sequencing, 211 cases (9.41%) were highly transmissible variants.
Among them, 160 cases were the 'Delta variant' first identified in India, 45 cases were the 'Alpha variant' first identified in the United Kingdom, and 6 cases were the 'Beta variant' found in South Africa.
Since last week, there has also been a surge in confirmed cases among Koreans. According to reports to the Korean Embassy, there were 3 cases each on the 14th and 16th, 5 cases each from the 17th to 19th, 3 cases on the 20th, 5 cases on the 21st, 4 cases on the 22nd, 14 cases on the 23rd, and 6 new cases today.
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