Indonesia is struggling to slow the pace of COVID-19 transmission and on Wednesday reported a record 54,000 infections, up more than tenfold on the number of cases at the start of June, despite new containment measures.

The Delta variant first identified in India has been found in 11 areas outside of the densely populated Java island, health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said.

Cases and bed occupancy rates have risen in parts of Sumatra, Papua and Kalimantan, or Indonesian Borneo, and far-flung regions like West Papua were especially concerning, he told parliament this week.

"We must monitor this tightly, because if there's something happening there, their health capacities are below Jakarta or Java," Budi said.

In East Nusa Tenggara, infections have more than doubled in the last three days, while in Lampung on Sumatra bed occupancy on Monday had reached 86%, East Kalimantan at 85%, and West Papua at 79%.

Ismen Mukhtar, an epidemiologist in Lampung, said Indonesia's regions were extremely vulnerable.

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