Indonesia, Malaysia log consecutive record highs in coronavirus infections

JAKARTA, Indonesia

Indonesia and Malaysia on Thursday continued to record spikes in coronavirus infections as the Delta variant continues to spread.

Indonesia confirmed an additional 56,757 cases in the last 24 hours, as it continues to set records for four consecutive days.

The number of cases has reached 2,727,803.

Health Ministry data said fatalities stand at 70,192 with an additional 982 deaths recorded in the past 24 hours.

The number of recoveries rose to more than 2 million after 19,049 patients won the battle against the virus.

As of Thursday, 55.43 million doses of vaccines had been administered, with 15.8 million people fully vaccinated.

Indonesia approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use. The southeast Asian country is set to receive 50 million doses throughout 2021.

Meanwhile, the number of cases in Malaysia surged to 880,782, after 13,215 more cases were confirmed Thursday.

The country logged a record number of infections for three consecutive days after 11,079 cases were confirmed Tuesday and 11,6818 cases on Wednesday.

Nearly 13 million people have been vaccinated with 26.5% of the population receiving their first dose and 12.3% their second dose.

*Writing by Maria Elisa Hospita