VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A medical worker waits for prospective patients during free COVID-19 swab testing provided by state-owned lender Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) in Jakarta on May 20. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)

Indonesia has surpassed China in its total number of COVID-19 cases, after recording 1,752 new infections on Saturday.

The new tally for Indonesia is 84,882 as of Saturday afternoon, while China reported 22 new cases to bring its total to 83,644, according to data from the country's National Health Commission.

Health Ministry disease control and prevention director-general Achmad Yurianto also announced 59 more COVID-19 deaths, putting Indonesia's death toll at 4,016.

In the latest edition of the national guideline on COVID-19 handling and prevention, the ministry now counts the death of probable cases as COVID-19 deaths.

However, Yurianto, who is also the spokesperson of the national COVID-19 Task Force, did not specify whether the most recent official death count included both the deaths of probable and confirmed cases.

Jakarta recorded 346 new confirmed cases, followed by Central Java with 266 cases, East Java 204, and South Sulawesi 168.

Meanwhile, East Java reported the most recoveries on Saturday with 555 recovered patients, bringing the total to 43,268. (Jakpost)