Ministry Of Health: Beware Of COVID-19 Risks Following An Increase In Asia

PIXABAY'S ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health issued a Circular (SE) to increase COVID-19 vigilance and other epidemic risks following an increase in the number of COVID-19 in a number of countries in Asia.

Plt. Director General of Disease Management of the Ministry of Health Murti Utami said that entering the 12th week of 2025 until now, COVID-19 has shown an increase in several countries in Asia, namely Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.

"The dominant variants of COVID-19 spreading in Thailand are XEC and JN.1, in Singapore LF.7 and NB.1.8 (derivative JN.1), in Hong Kong JN.1, and in Malaysia is XEC (derivative JN.1). However, transmission is still relatively low, and the death rate is also low," Murti said as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, May 31.

As for the COVID-19 situation in Indonesia, he said, entering the 20th week, it shows a downward trend in weekly confirmed cases from 28 cases in the 19th week to 3 cases in the 20th week or a positivity rate of 0.59 percent, with the dominant variant circulating being MB.1.1.

Regarding the increase in COVID-19 cases in several countries in the Asian region, several things must be done by health units and stakeholders.

Among them are monitoring developments in the global situation and information related to the COVID-19 incident through the official government and WHO channels, as well as increasing early vigilance by monitoring and verifying the trend of ILI/SARI/Pneumonia/COVID-19 cases through routine reporting of the Early and Response Alert System (SKDR).

Then intensify the promotion of a healthy lifestyle and COVID-19 alertness, such as by implementing a healthy clean living behavior (PHBS), washing hands with running water and using soap (CTPS) or using hand sanitizer.

"Using masks for people who are sick or if you are in a crowd. Immediately go to health facilities if you experience symptoms of respiratory infection and there is a history of contact with risk factors," he said.

Murti also reminded the importance of early detection and response of cases in accordance with the provisions, in order to avoid the risk of spreading the outbreak.