COVID-19 Increases Again, People Are Asked To Thicken Prokes

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) invites the public to strengthen health protocols to prevent the transmission of Omicron, which currently has a high prevalence in Indonesia.

"Surprised by the new variant called Omicron which will interfere with our safety, MUI appeals to all people and citizens of the nation to comply with Prokes," said Deputy General Chairperson of MUI Anwar Abbas in an official statement, quoted by Antara, Jakarta, Wednesday, January 26.

Anwar said that based on information from experts, the Omicron variant can spread faster than the previous variant. Even a number of countries are feeling the impact of this new variant with a spike in the daily number of positive COVID-19 cases.

Therefore, an easy and inexpensive effort to avoid the transmission of COVID-19 is to be disciplined in implementing health protocols such as wearing a mask when leaving the house, washing hands regularly, avoiding crowds, and reducing unnecessary mobility.

"Experts and the government always remind and appeal to always wear masks, maintain distance, wash hands, reduce mobility and avoid crowds," he said.

In addition, he appealed to the managers of public spaces to follow the instructions from the government and continue to monitor the development of transmission to be used as a reference in implementing policies.

"If you take part in events, I ask the event to pay attention to the existing prokes," he said. Meanwhile, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government had prepared 80,000 beds in various hospitals for handling COVID-19 patients, especially the spread of the Omicron variant. .

"Our hospital is ready for 80 thousand beds, 5 thousand have been filled so there are still rooms and it is still being raised to 150 thousand beds. For oxygen, medicines and health workers are prepared and hopefully not needed because we hope that Hospital admissions will be lower," said Minister of Health Budi Gunadi.

Regarding the COVID-19 case with the Omicron variant in Indonesia, the Minister of Health said that although the number of confirmed positive cases would increase, the death rate would be lower than the spread of the Delta variant.

Budi Gunadi also asked the public to continue to carry out health protocols in a disciplined manner, namely wearing masks, washing hands and reducing coming to crowds.

"Of the 1,600 confirmed cases that were treated for Omicron, which required oxygen only about 20 (patients) and who died two people, this is still far, very low compared to the Delta case so what needs to be done? There is no need to panic but must continue to be vigilant and Be careful because the transmission is high, there is no need to panic because the need for hospitalization and mortality is low," said Budi Gunadi.