JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Indonesia's one-day increases in Covid-19 cases have continued to hit consecutive new highs in the past few days as the country has constantly recorded more than 4,000 new infections each day.

According to data released by the national Covid-19 task force, the country's coronavirus infections first topped 4,000 cases on Saturday (Sept 19), followed by bleak records that continued to be broken over the past four days.

The country had never seen a daily increase above 4,000 prior to mid-September.

The government's latest data reveal that Indonesia recorded 4,634 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the total tally to 262,022.

The number of fatalities stands at 10,105, while the number of recovered cases amounts to 191,853.

Indonesia's previous highest one-day spike was recorded on Wednesday with 4,465 cases.

The task force's spokesman Wiku Adisasmito has blamed ignorance among the public for causing the widening virus transmission as people have neglected to abide by health protocols by maintaining safe physical distancing and wearing face masks, among other requirements. "We see that more and more people have started to neglect the health protocols as time goes by. They seem to have no empathy for Covid-19 victims," Wiku said in his daily press briefing on Thursday.

The task force has consequently initiated so-called "behavioural change" units to work together with the authorities in reinforcing the need to adhere to health protocols in society.

According to worldometers.info, Indonesia has the second-highest number of recorded Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia, just below the Philippines, which has recorded more than 296,000 cases.