Six Indonesians have been arrested for allegedly spreading misinformation online about the deadly coronavirus, police said as the Southeast Asian nation's confirmed infection cases jumped.

A woman in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya was arrested on Monday for spreading inaccurate claims on Facebook a patient was being treated for the virus in the city, police said according to AFP.

Five others were also detained for spreading false information on social media, including claims a Muslim woman flying to Saudi Arabia for a religious pilgrimage had died suddenly from the virus at Jakarta's international airport.

All six suspects are accused of violating laws banning the spread of misinformation, which carries as much as six years in prison.