Ministry Of Health: CDC Says Indonesia Enters A Country With Low COVID-19 Transmission

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for COVID-19 Vaccination, Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi said that Indonesia is one of the countries in the world with a low risk of COVID-19 transmission.

"The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that Indonesia is a country with a low risk of COVID-19 transmission, namely a country with a level one risk of transmission," Nadia said at a press conference that was attended online in Jakarta, Wednesday, December 15.

She said the CDC released recommendations for travel destinations based on the level of risk of COVID-19. And in the recommendation, the CDC divides the risk level into level four to level one and level unknown.

"Meanwhile, Indonesia is included in the level one category which is a low category," she explained, as quoted by Antara.

She conveyed, the CDC recommends that travelers who wish to visit countries that fall into the low-risk category must have been fully vaccinated before traveling.

"The CDC recommendation is good news for the government and the people of Indonesia. This indicates that the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia is on the right track," she said.

She stated that the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia continues to show the progress that continues to improve.

"But of course we remind the public that they must remain disciplined in implementing health protocols," she said.

Responding to the emergence of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant and approaching the Christmas and New Year holidays, Nadia said, the government again urges the public to remain vigilant by tightening health protocols, using the PeduliLindungi application, and getting vaccinated immediately.

"We can end this COVID-19 pandemic if we unite against it in handling the COVID-19 pandemic," she said.

She said, the government certainly has a strategy starting from upstream to downstream, from detection to prevention to therapeutic vaccination and behavior change that must go hand in hand so that the pandemic is under control.

She added that vaccination is indeed one of the important capital in dealing with the pandemic. However, it is not the only one, vaccination must be accompanied by health protocols.

"Even though there are sufficient vaccinations, the pandemic situation is getting better, but if the health protocols are not implemented properly in the community, the increase in cases will still occur," she said.