Minister of Health Budi Sadikin's Prediction, the Next 1-2 Weeks COVID-19 Cases Will Increase

JAKARTA - Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin asked all parties to be prepared for the prediction of an increase in COVID-19 cases that will occur in the next one or two weeks.

"We have been monitoring it daily if I have a feeling we will reach its peak in the next one or two weeks. The peak will likely be reached", said Minister Budi at the 2022 ISICAM which was attended in Jakarta, Antara, Friday, November 25.

Budi emphasized that the government continues to monitor every day, to observe the trend of COVID-19 in Indonesia from all its indicators. Unfortunately, it appears that since the XBB and BQ.1 variants entered Indonesia, the number of infected people has increased and should be watched out for.

Currently, positive cases in Indonesia are already on a scale of 8,000 cases per day.

With the presence of these two variants, Budi estimates the number of cases found will reach 10,000-15,000 cases per day, with the hospital bed occupancy rate (BOR) much lower than the impact of the previous variants.

In addition, the government is also intensifying a sero survey every six months to determine the antibody titer belonging to the community, which is carried out together with FKM-UI.

Through the sero survey, the government can find out for how long the community's antibodies have decreased and which areas need to be boosted immediately. The Sero survey also proves that Indonesia has very high antibodies, so it is not too affected by the COVID-19 wave as happened in other countries.

"We have the data by name by address now for 205 million of our population, we can predict in which areas we have to give boosters", he said.

Budi reminded that even though the antibodies were already high and the case was still under the prediction of government monitoring, all parties must immediately complete the vaccination dose and not ignore the current situation.

If Indonesia manages to keep the number of cases as it is today, for the next two weeks, then the public will not have to face the COVID-19 wave that can hamper all activities and the country's economy.

"If we can control it, then Indonesia will also be one of the countries that have not experienced a big wave in 12 months", he said.