Indonesia's COVID-19 eruption touches peak

Driven by the highly transmissible COVID Delta variant, Indonesia has over the past month been faced with an exponential surge in coronavirus cases that have overwhelmed hospitals and seen COVID-19 deaths soar to record levels.

The spread of the Delta variant was first identified in India, saw Indonesia's COVID-19 infections hit record highs.

The country reported a record 56,757 cases on July 15 and a record 2,069 deaths on July 27.

Averaging 33,800 per day last week, the positivity rate remains high and there are fears that the Delta variant could still ravage regions beyond Java, particularly in remote areas with ill-equipped healthcare services.

Indonesia has recorded more than 3.4 million cases and 95,000 deaths.

On Monday, most of those who had died from COVID-19 were unvaccinated.