On Friday new cases of COVID-19 hit a daily record high of 5,828, breaking the previous mark of 5,535 logged on Wednesday. The curve declined a little bit to 4,917 on Thursday, but the country has never seen such a steep rise before.

Jakarta has remained on top, with Central Java beginning to cause concern with new daily cases exceeding 1,000 to rival the capital city. The uptick in Central Java is believed to have something to do with long weekend holiday late last month, when many traveled eastward from high-risk zones like Greater Jakarta.

Smarting from the backlash of the last two long weekend holidays, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has decided not to arrange another long holiday between Christmas and New Year. But the next uphill test of the country’s ability to deal with COVID-19 will come on Dec. 9, when regional elections are held in 270 provinces, regencies and mayoralties.

After nine months, clearly Indonesia has barely made progress in containing the virus, which has now infected more than 520,000 people, killing over 16,500 of them. The government may score big in recovery rates, with more than 437,000 patients being cured, but of course prevention is way better than treatment in this health crisis.

No province is now immune from COVID-19, which according to the government has affected 505 regencies and cities across the country. In high-risk areas like Jakarta hospital bed occupancy rates are leaning toward an emergency.

One of the most daunting challenges facing the government in containing the COVID -19 spread is its failure to enforce or to make sure the public complies with the health protocols. The surge in the number of infections post-long holidays was a result of public ignorance about social-distancing measures. In some cases, people violated the health protocols at will because they did not believe the virus is real.

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