Minister Of Health Budi Confident Death Rate Due To COVID-19 Variant Omicron No More Than 500 Cases

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin (Photo: DOK ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Health Minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, believes the death toll caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19 will not reach 500 or even 1,000 cases. He said the death rate for this new variant would be lower when compared to the Delta variant.

"Maybe there will be an increase because of learning from before, deaths are two weeks lagging. However, I don't think there will be more than 111 events up to 500 or up to 1,000, it's impossible. Moreover, reaching 2,069 deaths per day like the peak of Delta", said Budi in a press conference aired on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube on Monday, February 14.

On that occasion, Budi also explained that the peak of COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant had been reached, namely 55 thousand cases. Meanwhile, the death toll reached 111 cases.

"This is a far cry from the Delta case in 2021", he said.

However, this condition must be maintained. Moreover, three groups are very vulnerable to exposure to this virus, namely the elderly, comorbid patients, and those who have not received a complete COVID-19 vaccine.

"Concerning the elderly, we can't regulate anything about age. Comorbidities also cannot be cured soon. Now, it is the group that has not been vaccinated that must be focused on reducing the number of cases and deaths", said the former Deputy Minister of SOEs.

"Therefore, we strongly urge people who have not been vaccinated or have completed two doses of vaccination and booster, immediately vaccinate. Don't be picky about vaccines, get vaccinated quickly", concluded Budi.