Minister Of Health Budi Gunadi Says Indonesia's Readiness To Transition From A Pandemic To A COVID-19 Endemic Is In The Hands Of The Community

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin/DOK ANTARA

JAKARTA - Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the public must be careful despite a number of relaxations that have been made by the government due to the improvement of COVID-19 cases in the country. The Minister of Health said this step was important to transition from a pandemic to an endemic one.

"We hope that with the improvement in the COVID-19 condition, the public will be more aware that the responsibility for health for the pandemic is in each of us," said Budi in a press conference broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube, Monday, April 4.

Budi said this responsibility must be carried out considering that people are now able to carry out their activities more freely compared to when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. One of the freedoms given by the government is that people are allowed to pray tarawih in congregation in the mosque and return to their hometown.

However, this freedom must be exercised with care. One of the precautions can be shown by completing the vaccination dose, especially for residents who want to go home.

Moreover, for people who have received a complete COVID-19 vaccine and booster, they can go home without the need for testing first.

Meanwhile, new complete vaccines without a booster must be tested using the antigen swab method and those who have just received a single dose vaccine must be tested using the polymerase chain reaction method.

"As long as the public is more ready to realize what must be done to deal with this pandemic, it will show that we are ready to make the transition from pandemic to endemic," he stressed.

In addition, the government is also currently monitoring the spread of COVID-19 cases in various countries. Including the possibility of the emergence of new variants.

"The government realizes that a high spike in cases always occurs with new variants. So we always monitor the new variants," concluded the Minister of Health, Budi.