Starting To Dominate, 25 Percent Of COVID-19 Cases In Indonesia Variant XBB And BQ.1

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) revealed that the new subvariants of Omicron XBB and BQ.1 began to dominate COVID-19 cases in Indonesia.

"The new variant of XBB, BQ.1 is now 25 percent of the proportion of cases. Later it can shift the previous variant," said Ministry of Health spokesman Mohammad Syahril during an online press conference, Wednesday, November 16 afternoon.

Based on the Ministry of Health's report, the new variant was detected for the first time in Indonesia on September 25, 2022 in the form of XBB with 37 cases, and BQ.1 with 50 cases as of September 30, 2022.

The cases were found in 10 provinces in Indonesia, including Bali, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, West Kalimantan, Babel Islands, Lampung, and North Sumatra, and Riau.

In the past month, said Syahril, hospitalized patients were around 10 thousand people, 5 percent of whom were undergoing intensive care, and the rest were non-ICU.

"Of those treated for 10 thousand cases, 84 percent of the patients have not been boosted and 50 percent have not been vaccinated," he said.

Syahril, who is also the President Director of RSPI Sulianti Saroso, said the COVID-19 vaccine was an effort to provide antibodies so that a person had body strength from the Corona virus attack.

"The message from this incident is that the number of people who are hospitalized and treated is high because they are not a booster," he said.

Of the death toll in the past month of around 1,373 cases, Syahril said, around 74 percent had not received a booster and 50 percent had not been vaccinated.

"This means that of patients being treated and then dying, the number is around 74 percent high," he said.

Another study from the Ministry of Health, said Syahril, is that nearly 52 percent of elderly patients who have not been vaccinated and boosters are at high risk of death.

"Never mind the elderly, those who have not comorbidized immediately get vaccinated to protect themselves," he concluded.