Indonesia yesterday announced three more deaths from the coronavirus and the highest single-day jump of 35 confirmed cases, which included two toddlers.

This brings the number of fatalities to four, and the total number of those testing positive to 69, since the first infections were announced on March 2.

Two of the deaths were women, aged 57 and 36, who were admitted to the Sulianti Saroso hospital already on ventilators, Mr Achmad Yurianto, a spokesman for the Covid-19 task force, told a press conference. "Their health deteriorated very fast," he said. "They then tested positive for coronavirus."

The Sulianti Saroso is a state-run infectious diseases hospital in North Jakarta.

"We informed the local health department, which immediately started contact tracing," Mr Achmad added.

The third death was a 59-year-old male patient at Moewardi hospital in Solo, Central Java province, whose condition also deteriorated very quickly, Mr Achmad said. The authorities are conducting contact tracing on him as well.

The 35 fresh cases announced yesterday included two male toddlers aged two and three, and two elderly women, both aged 80, Mr Achmad said. The new cases surfaced from contact tracing of earlier cases.

The government has decided that starting from Monday, laboratory tests for the coronavirus will also be carried out at Airlangga University in East Java, the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology in Jakarta, and several other places, in addition to Balitbangkes, the Health Ministry's laboratory in Jakarta.

Mr Achmad also responded to media reports about a patient said by a hospital spokesman to have fled the isolation ward. He said the patient, a single parent, did not flee but had gone back to care for a child while awaiting test results. He said the patient was readmitted the next day when the test came back positive.

Two nurses working at a Bali hospital that treated a British woman who died from the coronavirus on Wednesday had fever and cough and were in isolation wards, the Jakarta Post reported yesterday.

The Jakarta government decided yesterday to temporarily close the National Monument area, Ragunan Zoo, Ancol Dreamland Park complex and museums for the next two weeks to reduce crowds, stressing that social distancing is recommended.