Alert! September, Delta Variant Is Still Dominant In Indonesia

The attack on COVID-19 vaccinations for students was carried out by Kodim 1006/Banjar in Banjarbaru City to support face-to-face learning. (ANTARA/Word)

BANJARMASIN - The declining daily cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia and the decline in PPKM (Community Activity Restrictions) levels do not mean that the virus is gone. The public is asked to remain vigilant and implement strict health protocols.

Moreover, the Delta COVID-19 variant is still threatening amidst the decline in cases. Then, the Delta variant is also still the dominant variant.

"This September the Delta variant is still the dominant variant in Indonesia, which is 59 percent of the total transmission cases based on the Ministry of Health report", said a member of the Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM) Expert Team for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19, Hidayatullah Muttaqin, in Banjarmasin, as reported by Antara, Wednesday, September 29.

According to Muttaqin, Indonesia needs to reflect on the situation of ASEAN countries, the United States and Britain, which are experiencing a spike in cases due to the Delta variant. On the other hand, there has been an increase in population mobility and the implementation of face-to-face schools.

The explosion of cases in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam on September 1-27 reached 2.5 to 4 times the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia in the same period.

A similar situation is also experienced by Singapore, even though the achievement of vaccination, health care discipline, and 3T (testing, tracing, and treatment) efforts of this country is already very high compared to Indonesia.

Meanwhile, US and UK cases in the same period increased by 3.8 million and 0.9 million new cases. In fact, cases in school-age children increased by almost a million in 4 weeks in the US as face-to-face schools opened.

For this reason, Muttaqin reminded us that the decline in the rate of transmission and cases of COVID-19 in September did not trigger an easing of uncontrolled social and economic activities.

According to him, several things need to be watched out for as the source of the impetus for the COVID-19 explosion and there must be a mitigation strategy.

First, based on Google data in the community mobility report during the pandemic, there was an increase in community mobility.

Second, according to Health Protocol Compliance Monitoring data released by the Central COVID-19 Task Force, there was a decline in community health progress.

Third, with the implementation of face-to-face learning, the risk of transmission in schools, families, and communities driven by the mobility of teachers and students can occur.