Ministry Of Health Says COVID-19 Cases Increase In 21 Provinces

Illustration - COVID-19. (ANTARA/HO-Kemenkes).

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) reports that the COVID-19 situation in Indonesia has experienced an increasing trend, especially in 21 provinces in recent weeks. "The Ministry of Health has issued a Circular (SE) regarding Increasing Vigilance of the Spike in COVID-19 Cases," said Head of the Indonesian Ministry of Health's Communication and Public Service Bureau Siti Nadia Tarmizi when confirmed in Jakarta, Antara, Thursday, December 14. Reported through the Emerging Infection page of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, provinces experiencing an increasing trend of cases are Banten, Yogyakarta, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, and North Kalimantan. The same situation was also reported from the Riau Islands, Lampung, NTT, West Papua, Riau, West Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, South Sumatra, and North Sumatra. The trend of increasing weekly cases of COVID-19 nationally as of December 9, 2023 was reported to have touched the number of 554 positive cases. Since the graph was reported to have climbed from the 41st week or the period from 8-14 October 2023, weekly confirmed cases have increased by 134 percent per week. Meanwhile, COVID-19 confirmed cases reported today reached 359 cases, 79 of which were reported to have recovered and a total of 1,449 active cases. Nadia ensured that the increasing trend of cases was not followed by increased hospitalizations and deaths. However, the Ministry of Health stated that there needs to be efforts to prevent simultaneous transmission by all elements of society. "This time the COVID-19 case was dominated by the EG.5 sub-variant which is a derivative of the Omicron variant and is included in the Variants of Interest (VoI) category or a variant that has a genetic mutation which is predicted to affect the clinical characteristics of the virus," he said. The characteristics of these sub-variants, he said, could lead to an increase in cases and avoid immunity so that it is easier to infect but there is no change in severity. "However, the mobilization of the community during the 2023 Christmas and 2024 New Year holidays could potentially lead to a spike in COVID-19 cases," he said. Responding to this, the Ministry of Health spreads out regarding the vigilance of COVID-19 transmission aimed at the heads of provincial and district/city Health Offices, heads of Port Health Offices (KKP), heads of Public Health Laboratorys (LKM), directors of hospitals, heads of health centers, and First Level Health Facilities (FKTP) throughout Indonesia. The SE stated an appeal, including monitoring the development of the COVID-19 situation and information through the official channel of the Indonesian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, the relevant authorities also need to ensure that health workers who work at the entrance get optimal protection by completing the dose of COVID-19 vaccination, both primary and advanced (booster) according to the provisions. The Ministry of Health also asked SE recipients to monitor the trend of increasing cases of Influenza Like Illness (ILI) – Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), pneumonia, and suspected COVID-19 through the Indicator/Indicator Based Surveillance (IBS) Surveillance and Event-Based Survey/Event Based Surveillance (EBS).

"Make sure all other health centers and health facilities in the work area are active and passive, and continue laboratory examinations using RDT-Ag COVID-19 and RT-PCR," he said.