"We tested 19,510 specimens [on Thursday], 1,178 of which were positive," said the Health Ministry's disease control and prevention director general, Achmad Yurianto, "So the total [number of confirmed cases] is 50,187 people."

East Java, the second largest province in Indonesia in terms of population, has replaced Jakarta as the new epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak following a surge of new cases starting from the end of May.

The home to some 39 million people recorded the highest number of new confirmed cases on Thursday with 247, followed by the country's capital with 196 cases and South Sulawesi with 103 new cases.

The new cases brought East Java's total number of infections to 10,545, closely trailing behind Jakarta – where some 10 million of the nation's 268 million population reside – with 10,600 total cases.

Read also: Jokowi gives East Java two weeks to control virus

Indonesia thus remains the country with the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Southeast Asia to date, followed by Singapore with 42,736 cases as of Thursday.

Authorities have so far tested 708,962 specimens from 427,158 people.

Yurianto said the high transmission rate was because many residents still maintained close contact without adhering to prevention protocols. "[They] did not maintain physical distance and wear masks."

The central government also announced 47 new fatalities linked to COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 2,620.

"We recorded 791 new recoveries, bringing the total number of people who have recovered to 20,449," Yurianto added.

He went on to say that 17 provinces reported less than 10 new cases, with five of them – namely Bangka Belitung, Jambi, West Kalimantan, Southeast Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara – reporting zero new cases.

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