Indonesia has the highest coronavirus death rate in the world - and more than half of the nation's population could be infected before it is brought under control, experts have predicted.

So far, 790 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 throughout Indonesia and 58 have died, meaning the death rate is about 9 per cent.

The World Health Organisation has estimated the worldwide death rate of the infection is about 3 per cent while Australia's rate was just 0.4 per cent.

The Indonesian government has only carried out about 2,000 tests for the respiratory virus on its population of more than 270 million, news.com.au reported.

Researchers believe further testing could reveal that millions of people have been struck down with coronavirus in the coming months.

Immigration officers in Bali have been checking the temperature of foreign tourists before letting them stay in the country

Indonesian medical staff, wearing protective equipment, test for COVID-19 at Patriot stadium

Hadi Susanto, a professor of applied mathematics at the University of Essex in England, said 50 per cent of Jakarta's population could be infected within 50 days after the first case was announced by the President on March 2.

'We use Jakarta as a sample with a population of around 10 million. At its peak, the virus could infect 50 percent of the population,' Prof Susanto told local media.

He warned the predictions could be even more dire should the nation choose not to go into a mandatory lockdown.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has ruled out a lockdown because of the strain it would put on the community.

Instead, he has urged everybody to observe safe social distancing measures and stay at home as much as possible.

Tourists departing Bali have been seen wearing protective masks while in the airport before boarding their flights amid the coronavirus pandemic

Volunteers from Indonesia's Red Cross prepare to spray disinfectant at a school closed amid the spread of coronavirus

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 26,898 Victoria: 20,042 New South Wales: 4,200 Queensland: 1,152 Western Australia: 662 South Australia: 466 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 26,898 CURRENT ACTIVE CASES: 903 DEATHS: 849 Updated: 8.50 PM, 20 September, 2020 Advertisement

'Researchers usually like their calculations to be correct but in this case we don't want our modelling to be right,' Prof Susanto told The Australian.

'We do not want 1 per cent of 50 per cent of the infected population to die.'

More conservative estimates suggest some 70,000 Indonesians could be struck down by the virus by the end of April.

Disease surveillance and biostatistics researcher Iqbal Ridzi Elyazar from the Eijkman-Oxford Clinical Research Unit calculated the figure by assessing the doubling time for the infection so far.

They compared their own rates to that of Iran and Italy, where the virus spread rapidly, to China and Japan, which had a slower rate of spread.

The infection rate in Indonesia has doubled in the past three days, Mr Elyazar warned.

'The shorter the doubling time, the more dangerous it is,' he said.

An Indonesian bride wearing a face mask is sprayed inside a disinfection chamber on her wedding day on March 25 as the nation's confirmed coronavirus cases soar

Airport officer sprays disinfectant across items in an airport near Jakarta on March 25 as the coronavirus crisis intensifies

'Seventy-one thousand cases might sound scary, but that is what would happen without proper intervention... The President has urged the public to practice social distancing and we hope everyone is listening to him so we can decrease the doubling time.'

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd released a statement about the impact in Indonesia.

'Our friend and neighbour Indonesia, population 275 million, (is) now on the cusp of a full blown coronavirus disaster,' Mr Rudd tweeted.

'This has grave national security implications for both Jakarta and Canberra. This will require solidarity and deeply skilled diplomacy ahead.'

Tourist hotspot, Bali, only has four confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the moment, including a British tourist who died from the infection.

The other cases include a French tourist and two locals who had recently travelled.