JAKARTA - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said there were three provinces that experienced an increase in positive cases of COVID-19 due to the Omicron variant. In fact, the number of cases caused by this variant exceeds the number of cases due to the Delta variant some time ago.
"We have confirmed now that there are three provinces whose number of cases exceeds the number of cases of the previous delta wave. First is DKI Jakarta," Budi said in a press conference broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube, Monday, February 7.
Budi detailed that due to the Omicron variant, there were 15,800 additional COVID-19 cases in Jakarta. "Even though the previous highest peak of DKI was 14,600," he said.
Apart from DKI Jakarta, there are two other provinces that have experienced the same thing, namely Banten and Bali. In Banten, Budi continued, the addition of COVID-19 cases has now reached 4,800.
Whereas when the Delta variant wave hit, the province only recorded the addition of 3,900 new cases. Meanwhile, for Bali, now the number of cases has reached 2,000 and this figure is higher than during Delta's 1,900 cases.
Despite the spike in cases, people are asked not to panic. The reason is that the number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and must be hospitalized is still around 50 percent.
"The three provinces whose daily figures have exceeded the peak of the Delta, the number who are hospitalized is still around 30-50 percent," he said.
"So what I'm saying is that you don't end up panicking when you see the high number of cases, because the number of hospital admissions and deaths is much lower and can be controlled," added the former Deputy Minister of SOEs.
Moreover, he continued, the increase in cases was higher than the Delta variant caused by Omicron, which was also experienced by other countries. So, Budi reminded the public to maintain health protocols to avoid this virus attack.
"It is very important for the public to understand that the number of cases will rise even higher. In other countries it could be twice that of the Delta," he said.
"The important thing is that we can continue to carry out health protocols so that those who enter the hospital die below the average," concluded Budi.
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