A man riding his motorbike receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a drive-through vaccination site in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 2, 2021.Photo:Xinhua

Indonesia expanded nationwide coronavirus curbs Wednesday to battle its deadliest COVID-19 wave yet, as the death toll rocketed with the government warning that the worst may be yet to come.

The new restrictions apply to dozens of cities and extend from Sumatra island in the west to easternmost Papua as the highly infectious Delta variant rips across the Southeast Asian archipelago after battering densely populated Java.

"Cases are also rising in other regions and we need to pay attention to the availability of hospitals" there, said senior minister Airlangga Hartarto. 

"The government has decided to extend the restrictions" until July 20.

The country's hospitals are buckling under the pressure as a wave of patients flood the healthcare system.

This week the government rolled out new virus curbs in the hard-hit capital Jakarta, across Java and on holiday island Bali as it reported Tuesday a record 31,189 new infections and 728 deaths.

Areas affected by the extended restrictions announced Wednesday have much lower daily case counts than COVID-19 epicenter Java.

But limited healthcare services in those regions are already under strain and an explosion in cases could bring them to their knees, Hartarto warned.

"Facilities in those regions are limited and overwhelmed," he said.

The wider restrictions have forced the majority of non-essential employees to work from their homes.

AFP