Jakarta, Jun 17 (IANS): Indonesia recorded 9,944 new confirmed Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, marking the highest single-day spike since February 22, which increased the total tally to 1,937,652, the Health Ministry said.

The Covid death toll increased by 196 to 53,476, the Ministry reported.

An additional 6,229 recovered patients were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recoveries from the pandemic in the Southeast Asian country to 1,763,870, reports Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the Ministry, the pandemic has spread to all of the country's 34 provinces.

A a result, the government has temporarily closed houses of worship in areas with high risk of Covid-19 transmission, or red zones, amid surging cases, Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said on Wednesday.

The Minister said the rule will be in place until local administrations declare that their areas are safe from Covid-19.

"(Likewise), socio-religious and community activities such as public recitations, gatherings, weddings in houses of worship are temporarily suspended in the red and orange zones."

Worship activities in religious edifices outside the red zones are still allowed only for local residents under strict health protocols, Qoumas added.

Spokesman for the Covid-19 task force Wiku Adisasmito said the number of Covid-19 cases and the bed occupancy rate in hospitals jumped significantly in 15 areas on Java island last week, following the entry of the contagious Delta coronavirus variant.

In Kudus district, Central Java province, the new cases jumped by 30 times from 26 to 929 in a week, Adisasmito added.

Based on the whole genome sequencing test, 86.11 per cent or 62 of the total 72 samples of Covid-19 cases in Kudus were related to the Delta variant, Central Java's Governor Ganjar Pranowo said.

"The spread of this variant is very fast. Three weeks ago the Covid-19 pandemic in Kudus affected only three districts but today it happens in 11 districts," Pranowo said.