Minister Of Health: COVID-19 Rate Reaches 2,000 Cases Per Day, Indonesia WHO Level 1 Category

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin. (doc of Public Relations Secretariat)

JAKARTA - Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the rate of transmission of COVID-19 in Indonesia has now reached more than 2,000 cases per day.

Thus, the rate of cases in the country is at level 1 according to the World Health Organization aka WHO.

"Indeed, there is an increase from 200 to 2,000 cases at this time. But the peak of the wave in Indonesia previously reached 60,000 cases per day," said Minister of Health Budi after receiving assistance for a vaccine refrigerator machine from the Japanese Government at JICT Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, Sunday. June 26.

Budi said the WHO provided a level 1 standard for a pandemic situation in a country with an indicator of 20 cases per week, per 100,000 population. If adjusted to the situation in Indonesia, the WHO level 1 standard is around 7,800 per day.

"If it's still below that (WHO standard), it means it's still at level 1 PPKM. In Indonesia today, there are 2,000 cases," he said.

Budi said that the prediction for the peak of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariant waves was predicted to occur in the second or third week of July 2022. This was based on observations that occurred in South Africa.

"If the pattern is the same as in South Africa, the estimated peak (in Indonesia) could be in the second and third weeks of July 2022," he said.

Budi said that South Africa is the country of origin for the emergence of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants which are currently experiencing an increasing pattern of cases.

The increase in cases in South Africa in the past month, said Budi, was only a third of the increase in cases at the peak of Omicron BA.1. Hospitalizations or hospitalized patients are only a third of the Omicron peak.

"The death rate is about 10 percent of the peak Omicron," he said.

If Indonesia imitates the pattern that occurred in South Africa, Budi said, it is estimated that the peak of cases in the country will reach 30 percent of the peak of the Omicron, or the equivalent of 17,000 to 18,000 patients and after that it will fall again.

"However, the number of hospitalized patients and deaths is much lower than the previous wave," he said.

Budi ensures that the national reproduction rate is still under control because it is below 1 percent. The national positivity rate is still under control at 3.61 percent or below the WHO standard of around 5 percent.

However, there are still several provinces in Indonesia, such as DKI Jakarta and Banten, which are already above 5 percent, so Budi appealed to the public to remain vigilant and not panic in the face of the current pandemic situation.