ealth authorities are demanding that Jakarta’s satellite cities follow the capital’s lead in increasing the testing capacity, as the capital deals with more and more COVID-19 infections amid relaxed restrictions and rising mobility.

The number of new positive cases in Jakarta continued to exceed that of other provinces over the last few days with 462 new infections, 184 recoveries and 12 new deaths as of Tuesday.

In total, the capital has seen 26,624 confirmed infections, putting it ahead of second-placed East Java, which has logged 25,917 cases.

Authorities claim the high figures are due to the massive scale of testing and aggressive contact tracing the city has undertaken since it began gradually reopening the economy.

Jakarta, a special administrative region, remains the only province to meet the World Health Organization’s recommendation for the minimum testing rate of 1 test per 1,000 inhabitants per week, according to the latest WHO situation report.

Despite meeting the WHO benchmark, Jakarta Health Agency head Widyastuti said the city administration’s efforts to curb the disease would not succeed unless its satellite cities put up a similar effort, given the high mobility of people within Greater Jakarta.

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