Indonesia extended the partial lockdown of its second-largest city Surabaya and the two neighbouring administrative regencies of Sidoarjo and Gresik, in East Java province, as new infections and deaths spiked at the weekend.
East Java Governor Kofifah Indar Parawansa said yesterday that the decision was taken following a review of the Covid-19 growth rate and consultations with epidemiologists.
“After evaluation on the first phase of enforcing the large-scale social restriction, we agreed to extend the restrictions in Surabaya, Gresik and Sidoarjo,” Parawansa said in a statement.
The first phase of partial lockdown in the three regions had been set to end on May 11. It is now due to expire on May 25.
The governor said authorities would more strictly enforce the anti-virus restrictions - including stringent social distancing measures and bans on events and other social gatherings - in place during this second phase.
Achmad Yurianto, the spokesman for the national Covid-19 Task Force, said yesterday that the national caseload in Indonesia rose to 14,032 with 387 new confirmed infections.
There were also 14 new deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 973, Yurianto told reporters.
Health Ministry official Yurianto also said as many as 91 more people have been discharged from hospitals after their recoveries, taking the total number of recovered patients to 2,698.
According to him, the latest total number of suspected Covid-19 cases across the country 
is 30,317.
Out of the total national tally, 1,502 are in East Java where the death toll rose to 143 and 83 new cases were recorded, surpassing West Java as the second-most infected province after Jakarta, where more than 5,000 
infections were found.
East Java found new clusters of Covid-19 cases in the past two weeks, including in a Surabaya plant, where two workers died of infection and dozens of others tested positive.