Three more people died, taking the total number of deaths to 58, he said, adding 31 people had recovered from the virus.
The official said Tuesday’s total had been revised down one to 685 after a patient was counted twice.
Health experts say Indonesia faces a surge in coronavirus cases and the data is seen as understating the scale of infections because of a low rate of testing and a high mortality rate.
A study by the London-based Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases released on Monday estimates that as few as 2 per cent of Indonesia’s coronavirus infections have been reported.
That would bring the true number to as many as 34,300, which is more than Iran.
Other modellers are projecting that cases could rise to as many as 5 million in the capital, Jakarta, by the end of April under a worst-case scenario.
“We have lost control, it has already spread everywhere,” Ascobat Gani, a public health economist told Reuters. “Maybe we will follow Wuhan or Italy. I think we are in the range of that”.
The government says the impact of the virus will not be that severe.
“We won’t be like that,” said Achmad Yurianto, a senior health ministry official, referring to comparisons with outbreaks in Italy and China.
“What’s important is that we rally the people … they have to keep their distance.”
