Batam Health Office Asks Children To Stay Away From Unhealthy Snacks To Avoid Hepatitis

Head of Batam City Health Office Didi Kusmarjadi/Photo: Antara

BATAM - Batam City Health Office appealed to parents for their children to temporarily stay away from crowds and unhealthy snacks to avoid acute hepatitis.

"For children, don't go to crowded playgrounds, don't swim, eat in clean places, etc.," said Head of Batam City Health Office Didi Kusmarjadi in Batam, Riau Islands, Monday 9 May.

According to Didi, the community should be able to judge for themselves the cleanliness of the place to eat, if it is not guaranteed that the cleanliness of the food and drinks is better not to go to that location. In addition, there must also be supervision from the school. We also help with surveillance," Didi said as quoted by Antara.

As for the potential for the spread of acute hepatitis cases in Batam, Didi is based on cases in the archipelago, which are still considered small. "The possibility of spreading throughout the archipelago into a pandemic, I don't think so," he said.

However, said Didi, his party will continue to carry out surveillance to control the spread of this case. "Our supervision has implemented an early surveillance system and an Early Alert and Response System (SKDR), because there is only one case, it is considered an extraordinary event," he said.

Although the cause of this acute hepatitis case is unknown, Didi appealed to the public not to panic. "Because hepatitis has been around for a long time, it's just that at this time the cause is not clear. The health protocol is more or less like the spread of COVID-19," said Didi.